Russia ridicules Biden's remarks about sanctioning Putin if Russia launches an invasion as U.S. pours weapons into Ukraine
CBSN
Russia on Wednesday dismissed the latest warning from President Joe Biden, who said the previous day that the U.S. could seek to sanction President Vladimir Putin personally if he sends forces across the border to invade Ukraine. Putin's spokesman said any such sanctions would be "destructive," but not "painful" because, according to the Kremlin press secretary, Russia's senior leaders don't hold overseas bank accounts or assets.
Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, President Biden said that Putting were to send the roughly 100,000 troops he's massed along Ukraine's borders into the U.S.-allied country, "it would be the largest invasion since World War II. It would change the world."
Asked if his administration would sanction Putin personally, Mr. Biden replied: "Yes… I would see that."
Southern Gaza Strip — In a rare moment of access to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, CBS News visited a critical aid distribution center on Wednesday just inside the Gaza Strip, near the Karem Shalom border crossing from Israel. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza after more than a year of the Israel-Hamas war remains dire.
Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday made a rare admission of failings by his powerful security agencies over the Ukraine-orchestrated killing of a senior general in Moscow. Lt. General Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian military's chemical and biological weapons unit, was killed by a bomb planted in a scooter in Moscow on Tuesday, the boldest assassination claimed by Kyiv since the start of the conflict.
A judge in France on Thursday found the former husband of Gisèle Pelicot, who admitted to drugging and raping her repeatedly over the course of almost a decade and inviting dozens of other men to assault her as well, guilty of aggravated rape. He was given the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Moscow — Former Royal Ballet star Sergei Polunin, famous for his tattoos of Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday announced that he plans to leave Russia. The Ukrainian-Russian dancer was one of the most prominent stars who backed Russia's unilateral 2014 annexation of Crimea and its military assault on Ukraine. He was rewarded with prestigious state posts.