Iran Press/America: On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbas republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aimed to demilitarize and denazify the country.
Following this step, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and several other countries announced sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that G7 countries would soon announce a unified response to make sure Russia cannot evade Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine with the help of China or any other country.
Speaking aboard Air Force One en route to Brussels where US President Joe Biden will attend an emergency NATO summit, Sullivan said, "That's not specifically about China, but it will apply to every significant economy and the decisions that any of those economies take to try, in an intentional and active way, to undermine or weaken the sanctions that we put in place."
He said the U.S. government has conveyed this message to China and that, "We expect similar communication by European Union and individual European countries." 219
