US not ruling out modifying existing sanctions on Russia: WH

White House Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said on Friday that the US will not rule out imposing new sanctions against Russia or modifying existing ones in order to make them more strangling.

During an interview for CNN, Kirby said, "we are constantly revisiting the sanctions regime to make sure that it is having the desired effect on [Russian President] Mr. [Vladimir] Putin and his economy and we have never taken off the table additional sanctions and we haven't taken off the possibility of changing the sanctions regime to, again, impact him in a much more costly way." 

Responding to a question about US officials who are reportedly dissatisfied with the impacts of Western sanctions on the Russian economy, Kirby said that the Biden administration has stated from the start that some sanctions may take time to take effect.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the US and the EU have multiplied punitive measures to isolate Russia by targeting its banking system and freezing the assets of its leaders and its industries.

Many of the consequences, such as higher gas, electricity, and food prices, have already occurred or will occur. Meanwhile, western citizens are bearing the brunt of the sanctions on Russia, as gas prices are rising in a suffocating manner.