U.S. President Joe Biden announced on April 22 the United States will ban Russia-linked ships from ports over the “premeditated, unjustified, unprovoked, and brutal war against Ukraine”.

Biden said the invasion constitutes “a national emergency by reason of a disturbance or threatened disturbance of international relations of the United States.”  The U.S. joins Canada and European nations in this latest move to pressure Russia to stop the invasion.

The ban will apply to ships of Russian registry (i.e., the ship is Russian flagged); ships that are Russian owned (i.e., the legal title of ownership that appears on the ship’s registration documents is the government of the Russian Federation or a Russian company, citizen, or permanent resident); and ships that are Russian operated (i.e., Russian company, citizen, or permanent resident is responsible for the commercial decisions concerning the employment of a ship and decides how and where that asset is employed).

Photo credit: iStock/jgroup.  Port of Los Angeles.