Vodka, caviar and diamonds: iconic Russian products will no longer be exported to America

On Friday, March 11, US President Joe Biden imposed a ban on the import of branded Russian goods, including vodka, diamonds and seafood. This is his latest attempt to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine. Yahoo Finance.

“Putin is the aggressor and Putin must pay the price,” Biden said during a White House speech in which he vowed to continue isolating the Russian economy.

Biden did not provide a detailed list of banned brands, but Russia supplies high-end caviar and alcohol to the US.

The president also announced plans to work with allies to further target the "unfair profits" of Russian billionaires in the coming months. The United States and its allies have already put a number of oligarchs on sanctions lists and have begun to capture them superyachts, private jets and multi-million dollar mansions.

“They support Putin. They rob the Russian people. And they are trying to hide their money in our countries. They are part of the kleptocracy that exists in Moscow. And they should share the pain of these sanctions,” Biden said.

On the subject: Establishments in Brighton Beach massively get rid of Russian flags and images of Moscow

The President added that the US would also ban American exports of luxury goods to Russia in order to put additional pressure on the Russian elite.

Depriving Russia of trade privileges

The president also urged lawmakers to put an end to Russia's preferential trade status. This would drastically raise import tariffs on goods imported from Russia and add the country to the rogue club that includes North Korea and Cuba.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will consider a bill to deprive of Russia permanent participant in normal trade relations (PNTR) as early as next week. The document is expected to receive broad bipartisan support.

“Removing PNTR for Russia would make it harder for Russia to do business with the United States,” Biden said. If we do this together with other countries that make up half of the world economy, it will be another devastating blow to the Russian economy, which is already suffering very badly from our sanctions.”

The Russian economy is struggling

The Russian economy has already been hit hard by US and EU sanctions, causing the Russian ruble to lose roughly half its value in the last month alone.

The Russian stock market was closed for several days. Trading on the Moscow Exchange was stopped literally a day after the invasion of Ukraine, which took place on February 24, began.

In another sign of the economic collapse, ratings agency Fitch this week downgraded the status of Russian bonds to the level of garbage, warning that "sovereign default is inevitable." Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley suggests that a Russian default could come as early as next month.