Punishing Putin: How Biden could cut Russia off from world tech

The administration has been vowing to hit Moscow with a potent cocktail of banking sanctions and export controls for weeks

If Russia further invades Ukraine, the Biden administration could deprive it of a vast swath of low- and high-tech U.S. and foreign-made goods, from commercial electronics and computers to semiconductors and aircraft parts, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

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President Joe Biden would achieve that by expanding the list of goods that require U.S. licenses before suppliers can ship them to Russia, and his administration would then deny those licenses, the people said.

The measures, whose details have not previously been reported, are part of a suite of export control penalties that the United States has prepared to damage Russia's economy, targeting everything from lasers to telecoms equipment and maritime items.

They were not announced on Tuesday as part of a round of sanctions unveiled by Biden to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for recognising two breakaway regions of Ukraine as independent and deploying troops into the regions to "keep the peace."

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The White House, and the Commerce Department, which oversees U.S. export controls, did not respond to requests for comment.