UK to sanction Putin, Lavrov over Russia's military intervention in Ukraine

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - Britain on Friday has said it would introduce sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov "imminently."

The announcement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson came during an urgent videoconference of NATO member states’ leaders.

Johnson told the leaders that “a catastrophe was engulfing Ukraine, and President Putin was engaging in a revanchist mission to over-turn post-Cold War order,” according to a statement from his offices.

He “warned the group that the Russian President’s ambitions might not stop there and that this was a Euro-Atlantic crisis with global consequences.”

He said the UK would “introduce sanctions against President Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov imminently, on top of the sanctions package the UK announced yesterday.”

Johnson urged leaders to “take immediate action against SWIFT to inflict maximum pain on President Putin and his regime.”

“The world must make certain President Putin would fail in this act of aggression,” he said.

“Ukraine was showing strong resistance,” he said, adding that there could be no normalization of relations with Russia after its military intervention in Ukraine.

Johnson also outlined details of the UK’s “new offer to NATO across its eastern flank.”

“The UK stood ready for any further request from NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe to go further with military support to NATO from UK Armed Forces,” he said.

“NATO should have primacy in the future of European security and it was vital that it was strengthened now,” he added.