'Putin is the aggressor': Biden confident of 'weakening' Russia with sanctions

• President Joe Biden hit Russia with a wave of sanctions on Thursday after Moscow invaded Ukraine, measures that impede Russia's ability to do business in major currencies along with sanctions against banks and state-owned enterprises. Biden described Russian President Vladimir Putin as an aggressor with a "sinister vision of the world" and a misguided dream of recreating the Soviet Union. But he held back from imposing sanctions on Putin himself and from disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT international banking system.