Good afternoon, everyone.

It is my great pleasure to be here with all of you today to discuss the importance and implications of economic sanctions.

As you all know, in February of this year, Russia launched an unprovoked war in Europe. To this day, Russia has chosen violence and death. Moscow continues to launch missiles into Ukraine—attacking the civilian power grid, which will cause electricity and heating blackouts in the middle of winter; damaging residential buildings hundreds of miles away from the border; and killing innocents. This kind of warfare is of course a direct attack on Ukraine’s people, a brutal attempt to sever their access to basic needs. It is also a naked attempt to put Ukraine’s economy in a deep freeze—it is economic warfare.

Secretary Yellen has called ending this invasion a “moral imperative.” She has noted rightly that it is a primary driver for global economic insecurity. Accordingly, the Treasury Department is using its financial authorities to achieve three objectives: (1) deprive Russia of the enabling means necessary to wage war in Ukraine; (2) prevent Russia from projecting military power; and (3) deter and denounce Russian war crimes and human rights abuses in Ukraine. To achieve these objectives, we have brought to bear both well-establish tools from our economic arsenal as well as bold, novel approaches that are pushing the boundaries of economic statecraft.

Yesterday’s news represents the culmination of our efforts to…