Biden unveils sanctions to turn Putin into 'pariah'

US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced "severe" economic sanctions that will make President Vladimir Putin a "pariah" for invading Ukraine, but conceded a lack of Western unity for enacting an even tougher measure.

In a speech from the White House, Biden said four major banks would be hit with sanctions by Western powers and that export controls on sensitive components would "cut off more than half of Russia's high-tech imports."

"This is going to impose severe costs on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time," Biden said.

The measures, on top of a raft of other sanctions already announced this week, will make Putin "a pariah on the international stage," Biden said.

"Any nation that countenances Russia's naked aggression against Ukraine will be stained by association," he said.

Biden confirmed that for now there was no attempt to put sanctions directly on Putin, who is widely reported to have amassed a huge, secret fortune during his two decades in power.

He also said that a much talked about move to cut Russia from the SWIFT international payments system -- essentially crippling its banking sector -- was not happening.

Ukraine pleaded for yanking Russia from SWIFT on Thursday, but Biden revealed that the Western coalition could not come to an agreement.

"It is always an option but right now that's not the position that the rest of Europe wishes to take," he said.

Biden spoke to the nation after having attended a virtual, closed-door meeting which lasted an hour and 10 minutes with the Group of Seven.

The group of rich Western democracies - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- said it was standing firm against Russia's "threat to the rules-based international order."