• 

The latest US sanctions on Russia were "nothing like" Washington has done before, and weighed what the other options would have, US President Joe Biden said Saturday to defend his sanctions on Russia.

"You have two options: start a third World War, go to war with Russia physically. Or two, make sure that a country that acts so contrary to international law ends up paying the price," he said during an interview.

No sanctions are immediate, Biden highlighted saying "you [can't] sanction someone and say, 'You no longer are going to be able to be president of Russia,'" meaning that the US hopes that its sanctions would be able to affect Putin's popularity in the coming future.

"But I think the sanctions - I know the sanctions are the broadest sanctions in history," he underscored.

"Russia will pay a serious price for this short term and long term, particularly long term," Biden asserted.

Amid the US assertions that the sanctions are enough to curb Russia, Biden held a call with his national security team this morning on the latest developments in the Ukrainian arena.

The European Union had agreed Friday to freeze European assets linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over Moscow's operation in Donbass.

The European decision was accompanied by a wave of sanctions from the US, Europe, and other Western allies.

The tsunami of sanctions that Russia is repeatedly telling the west has no effect come in light of leader Vladimir Putin authorizing a special military operation in Donbass over the constant Ukrainian shelling of Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics, whose independence Moscow recognized a few days ahead of the operation.

Russia has its way of curbing these sanctions, though, via cooperation with China and using the roble and yuan in exchanges rather than the USD.

 Read: Yuan more preferable as China, Russia de-dollarize trade

Moscow's ministry of foreign affairs informed the international community the operation in Ukraine was not the beginning of a war, but rather an attempt at curbing one after the west bombarded the situation with condemnations.

Russia has for months been warning of the threat posed against it by NATO's attempts to expand eastward, which happened simultaneously with an increase in NATO military activity along Russia's borders, and batches of lethal weapons being sent to Ukraine, prompting Russia to request security guarantees from the West. Washington failed to provide the guarantees.