What happened in the war's politics on 17 March 2022?
A look back at sanctions, arrests and battlefield claims reported on 17 March 2022, and the days just before it.
What was happening in the politics of the war on 17 March 2022? Reports from that day and the preceding ones pointed to new sanctions, internal tension in Russia and further Western support for Ukraine.
On 17 March 2022, New Zealand added 364 Russian political and military figures to its entry-ban list. It also added 13 individuals and 19 entities to its sanctions list, including asset freezes. Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov were among those named. Separately, Putin ordered the Federal Security Service to arrest Rosgvardiya Deputy Chief General Roman Gavrilov. Ukrainian intelligence information, as reported, said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had pledged to supply Russia with 40,000 mercenaries. Pro-Russian militants from the so-called Luhansk People's Republic took control of government buildings in Rubizhne.
On 16 March 2022, Putin addressed his ministers, using harsh language about Russian "traitors" and accusing a so-called "fifth column" of trying to destroy the country from within. The same day, Lavrov said there was hope of reaching a compromise aimed at a ceasefire. US President Joe Biden announced a further $800 million in security assistance for Ukraine, including 800 anti-aircraft systems, thousands of anti-tank missiles and armed combat drones.
On 15 March 2022, Biden signed a $1.5 trillion budget bill that included $13.6 billion in aid for Ukraine. The US Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution declaring Putin a war criminal and calling for an International Criminal Court investigation. Russia sanctioned Biden and several other US officials, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and most members of the Canadian parliament. In Kyiv, Illia Kyva of the pro-Russian Opposition Platform — For Life was deprived of his MP status in the Verkhovna Rada, and four more MPs quit the party.
