White House official: ‘This is the beginning of an invasion’

A senior White House official on Tuesday repeatedly accused Russia of mounting an “invasion” of Ukraine by sending troops into the breakaway Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

The remarks by deputy national security adviser Jon Finer represent a rhetorical shift by the Biden administration, which on Monday resisted calling Russia’s moves into Ukraine an invasion after warning for months about Moscow’s military buildup and increasing aggression.

“We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine,” Finer told CNN, referring to Russian troops moving into the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic — both of which are controlled by Russia-backed forces.

“I think ‘latest’ is important here,” Finer said. “An invasion is an invasion, and that is what is underway. But Russia has been invading Ukraine since 2014,” when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula.

Pressed on whether Russia’s actions were an invasion or simply the beginning of a renewed incursion into Ukraine, Finer said: “I don't know how much more clear I can be. … This is the beginning of an invasion.”

“I mean, again, I guess for the third or fourth time, I am calling it an invasion,” Finer added. But other members of the Biden administration have been reluctant to make that distinction this week.

In a call with reporters on Monday, a senior administration official declined to describe Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troop movements as an invasion, saying: “Russian troops moving into Donbas would not itself be a new step. Russia has had forces in the Donbas for the past eight years.”

Following Putin’s decision to formally recognize the independence of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, President Joe Biden on Monday issued an executive order expanding upon the sanctions leveled against Russia in 2014.

The United States’ latest penalties prohibit new U.S. investment in the breakaway regions, imports and exports from the regions, and financial and property transactions as determined by the Treasury Department.

Finer previewed on Tuesday that “additional economic sanctions” against Russia would be announced in the coming hours.

“We will retain the right to impose additional steps, additional sanctions if Russia continues to move forward. That has been our approach all along,” Finer said. “We envisioned waves of sanctions that we would roll out on Russia if and as it continues to take steps down the path toward war, which we believe that they are doing.”

In addition to the U.S. sanctions, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Tuesday that his government would halt the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in light of Russia’s invasion.

The United States previously pledged that the controversial project — which would deliver inexpensive natural gas from Russia to Germany via a 764-mile-long pipeline under the Baltic Sea — would not move forward if Russia moved troops into Ukraine.