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EU To Freeze Putin, Lavrov Assets Over Ukraine

The EU has agreed to freeze European assets linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over their decision to invade Ukraine, EU officials told AFP on Friday.


Participants hold placards in support of Ukraine and against Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, at a demonstration staged in front of the Downing Street gates, in central London, on February 25, 2022 to protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. – The Kremlin said on February 25, 2022 Russia’s President was ready to send a delegation to Belarus for talks with Ukraine, as Russian forces approached Kyiv on the second day of Moscow’s invasion. The day before Britain imposed a biting package of sanctions on Russia that British Prime Minister said would degrade its economy “for years to come”. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP)
People look at a damaged residential building at Koshytsa Street, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where a military shell allegedly hit, on February 25, 2022.  (Photo by GENYA SAVILOV / AFP)

 

The EU has agreed to freeze European assets linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over their decision to invade Ukraine, EU officials told AFP on Friday.

The measures were added Friday after being raised in overnight discussions by EU leaders on a new sanctions package that EU foreign ministers from the 27-nation bloc were to validate.

READ ALSO: Retaliatory Measures Will Follow Against Western Sanctions – Kremlin

A view shows the wreckage of an unidentified aircraft that crashed into a private house in a residential area in Kyiv on February 25, 2022.  (Photo by GENYA SAVILOV / AFP)

 

Germany and Italy were hesitant to apply the measure, but most EU countries were in favour of it, two officials said on condition of anonymity.

The asset freeze on Putin and Lavrov was first reported by the Financial Times based on three sources who said neither of the Russians would be subject to an EU travel ban in order to keep diplomatic channels open.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday the new EU sanctions package targeted “the highest officials” in Russia.

The body of a rocket stuck in a flat after recent shelling on the northern outskirts of Kharkiv on February 24, 2022. (Photo by Sergey BOBOK / AFP)

 

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said as he arrived for the EU meeting in Brussels with his counterparts that, given Russia’s undeterred military action on Ukraine, further sanctions were likely.

“This (latest packet of sanctions) isn’t enough. We need to choke the (Russian) system and in particular further target the oligarchs,” he said.