WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and leaders of NATO allies agreed to double the organization's troop presence in Eastern Europe Thursday during a flurry of wartime summitry in Brussels, an effort to keep the alliance united in its effort to isolate and punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
The White House also announced new sanctions against more than 400 Russian elites, Duma members and defense companies — one more turn of the screw in the West's economic pressure campaign against Moscow. The Group of Seven, which joined in the new sanctions, disclosed initiatives aimed at cracking down on efforts by Russia to evade sanctions and preventing its Central Bank from using gold reserves to shore up its sagging economy.
The U.S. also plans to accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees into the country and to donate $1 billion to help European nations flooded with Ukrainians fleeing the war, the White House confirmed.
