Letter to Congressional Leaders on Blocking Property of Certain Persons and Prohibiting Certain Transactions With Respect to Continued Russian Efforts To Undermine the Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity of Ukraine

Dear Madam Speaker: (Dear Madam President:)

Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order (the "order") that expands the scope of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660 of March 6, 2014, and expanded by Executive Order 13661 of March 16, 2014, and Executive Order 13662 of March 20, 2014, and relied on for additional steps taken in Executive Order 13685 of December 19, 2014, and Executive Order 13849 of September 20, 2018, by finding that the Russian Federation's purported recognition of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) or Luhansk People's Republic (LNR) regions of Ukraine constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.

In order to deal with this threat, I am prohibiting new investment in the so-called DNR or LNR regions of Ukraine or such other regions of Ukraine as may be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State ("Covered Regions"), by a United States person, wherever located; the importation into the United States, directly or indirectly, of any goods, services, or technology from the Covered Regions; the exportation, reexportation, sale, or supply, directly or indirectly, from the United States, or by a United States person, wherever located, of any goods, services, or technology to the Covered Regions; and any approval, financing, facilitation, or guarantee by a United States person, wherever located, of a transaction by a foreign person where the transaction by that foreign person would be prohibited by the order if performed by a United States person or within the United States.

I am also creating the authority to impose sanctions on persons determined to operate or have operated since the date of the order in the Covered Regions; to be or have been since the date of the order a leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors of an entity operating in the Covered Region; to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to the order; or to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to the order.

I am enclosing a copy of the order I have issued.

Sincerely,

JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.