The United States “will work with (its) allies and partners to implement swift and severe additional economic measures” against Russia if it annexes territory in Ukraine, Joe Biden warned on Friday, according to AFP.

“The referendums are a hoax, a false pretext for an attempt to forcibly annex part of Ukraine,” said the US president, who has already imposed several economic and financial sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s regime.

On Friday, “referendums” on joining the Russian Federation began in parts of Ukraine, fully or partially under the control of Moscow, Kyiv and the West, calling them a “pretext”.

G7 leaders “strongly condemned” on Friday Russia’s “fake referendums” on the annexation of territories occupied by it in Ukraine, adding that they “will never be recognized.”