President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced that the United States is placing sanctions on members of the military in Myanmar in the midst of an ongoing coup in the country. 

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden announced the United States will sanction Myanmar military leaders in response to an ongoing coup in the country 

  • The U.S. will take steps to prevent military leaders from accessing the $1 billion in Myanmar's government funds that is held in the United States

  • Biden also approved an executive order allowing for sanctions against the military leaders responsible for the coup, as well as their business interests and close family members

  • The coup began in early February, when the military detained the country’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior politicians in response to the party’s landslide victory

“The military must relinquish the power it seized, and demonstrate respect for the will of the people of Burma, as expressed in the November 8 elections,” Biden said from the White House. “So today, I’m announcing a series of actions that we're taking to begin imposing consequences on the leaders of the coup.” 

Those actions will include taking steps to prevent military leaders from accessing the $1 billion in Myanmar's government funds held in the United States. Biden also approved an executive order that will allow the United States to sanction the military leaders responsible for the coup, as well as their business interests and close family members. 

“We will identify a first round of targets this week, and we’re also going to impose strong export controls,” Biden continued. “We’re freezing U.S. assets that benefit the Burmese government, while maintaining our support for health care, civil society groups, and other areas that benefit the people of Burma directly.” 

The president had threatened the use of sanctions against Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, soon after the country’s military took over and blocked the new session of Parliament from convening on Feb. 1. At the time, Biden called the coup a “direct assault on the country’s transition to democracy and rule of law.”

Myanmar’s coup began in earnest in early February, when the military detained the country’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior politicians in response to the party’s landslide victory. The military-backed party has claimed widespread irregularities on voter lists could have led to fraud in that vote, though the election commission said there was no evidence to support those claims.

The military has cited the government’s failure to act on the allegations as part of the reason for the forceful takeover of the country’s government. 

In the weeks since, protests — sometimes violent — spread across the nation’s largest cities, many in defiance of police orders against the demonstrations. Protesters are demanding that power be restored to the deposed civilian government and are seeking freedom for Suu Kyi.

Biden reiterated those calls on Wednesday, calling on the military to “immediately release the democratic political leaders and activists” that were detained.

“As protests grow, violence against those asserting their democratic rights is unacceptable, and we’re going to keep calling it out,” Biden said. “The people of Burma are making their voices heard, and the world is watching.” 

The United States stands ready to impose additional sanctions should the situation in Burma not improve, Biden said.  

The Associated Press contributed to this report.