EU sanctions Russian president, foreign minister

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - The EU on Friday imposed sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the bloc's foreign policy chief announced on Friday.

“We have listed today President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov,” Josep Borrell said at a press conference following the meeting of EU top diplomats.

He explained that EU leaders couldn’t agree on this point on Thursday during their extraordinary summit, but negotiations continued and the foreign ministers could finally agree to impose sanctions of travel ban and asset freeze on Putin and Lavrov.

The new package targets Belarus as well for its involvement in the military intervention in Ukraine, and it imposes serious restrictions on finance and visa policy.

“We are cutting Russia’s access to the most important capital markets,” Borrell stated, adding that the new measures will significantly limit the flows of capital to Russia.

The sanctions target 70% Russian banking sector, key state-owned companies, while the bloc also imposes restrictions on trade related to the energy sector, aviation, and cutting-edge technology.

The EU on Wednesday adopted the first package of sanctions against Russia for violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

The measures target among others Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, two deputy prime ministers, high-ranking military officials, and 351 members of the State Duma, lower house of Russian parliament.

Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine entered its second day on Friday, with the latest reports indicating that Russian troops were heading toward the capital Kyiv from several directions.

Putin had ordered the military intervention on Thursday, just days after recognizing two separatist-held enclaves in eastern Ukraine.

He claimed that Moscow had no plan to occupy the neighboring country, but wanted to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to install a puppet government and said Ukrainians will defend their country against Russian aggression.

Tensions started escalating late last year when Ukraine, the US and its allies accused Russia of amassing nearly 150,000 troops on the border with Ukraine.

They claimed Russia was preparing to invade its western neighbor, allegations consistently rejected by Moscow.