EXPLAINER: Just how hard could US sanctions hit Russia?

WASHINGTON (AP) — With Russia's military attacking across Ukraine, President Joe Biden is expected to announce on Thursday at least some of the toughest sanctions and financial penalties that the United States, the world's biggest economy, can muster in response.

Biden, for weeks, has promised “swift and severe costs” if Russian forces moved into Ukraine, and he made clear that the U.S. would go after Russia financially, not militarily.

Biden administration officials have described measures that would send Russia's ruble crashing, isolate Moscow from the world financial system and possibly drive the country into recession. They also have said minimizing the damage to European economies is a primary concern.

A look at some of the steps being considered and their potential impact:

MOST LIKELY PUNISHEMENTS AND SOME LESS LIKELY ONES:

Strongly in the mix are penalties targeting Russia’s biggest state banks and new export controls that would starve the country's industries and military of American semiconductors and other high-tech products.

U.S. officials have appeared less certain about cutting Russia off from the international financial system and from dollar transactions, partly out of concern about the spillover economic effects at home and in Europe.

Such steps include banning Russia from the SWIFT financial system that moves money from bank to bank around the world, and shutting down the Kremlin's ability to do business in dollars. Those would go far in severing Russia from global financial systems, and, with the dollar-clearing ban, stymie even the most routine business transactions.

CUTTING OFF HIGH-TECH EXPORTS:

U.S. export controls could deprive Russian industries and the military of the high-tech components that help warplanes and passenger jets fly and make...