NEW YORK, February 26. /TASS/. US President Joe Biden said an alternative to tough sanctions that Washington has slapped on Russia would be the Third World War.

"You have two options. Start a Third World War, go to war with Russia, physically. Or two, make sure that the country that acts so contrary to international law ends up paying a price for having done it," Biden said in an interview with blogger Brian Tyler Cohen. The video was posted on his YouTube page on Saturday.

The US president noted that no sanctions are immediate. "But I think these sanctions, I know these sanctions are the broadest sanctions in history, and economic sanctions and political sanctions," Biden said.

"Russia will pay a serious price for this short term and long term, particularly long term," the US leader stressed.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Its objective is demilitarization and denazification of the country.

When clarifying the unfolding developments, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.

A number of countries, including the US, have declared tough sanctions against Russia. The US Department of Treasury has announced sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov.