The United States, Britain, Canada, and the European Union moved to sanction Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on February 25 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The EU was first to blacklist Putin and Lavrov as part of a broader sanctions package that was unanimously approved during an emergency summit of EU leaders.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told NATO leaders during a call that Britain also would move to impose sanctions against Putin and Lavrov, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced the U.S. decision, indicating the sanctions would include a travel ban. The U.S. Treasury Department is expected to release more details later on February 25.
President Joe Biden had previously said sanctions targeting Putin were under consideration. The U.S. decision to go along with the move came after Biden had talks with European leaders.
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The U.S. move is intended send “a clear message about the "strength of the opposition" to Putin and Russia's actions, Psaki said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined the other Western countries, saying Canada will also levy additional sanctions on Belarus and its leaders for "abetting" Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Canada also said it was removing Russian vodka and other Russian-made alcoholic beverages from liquor store shelves over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
The EU's measure will subject Putin and Lavrov to an asset freeze. It is unclear how badly the two men will be hurt by the sanctions or whether they will be mainly symbolic.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the decision by the Western nations to slap sanctions on Putin and Lavrov was "a demonstration of the complete impotency of the foreign policy" of the West.
She also warned that Russia's relations with the West were nearing a "point of no return."
"It wasn't our choice. We wanted dialogue, but the Anglo-Saxons closed those options one by one and we began acting differently," Zakharova said on a television show on Russia's Channel One.
The new EU sanctions come on top of asset freezes and travel bans already imposed on senior Kremlin officials and lawmakers involved in Russia's decision on February 21 to recognize two areas in eastern Ukraine as independent states.
The restrictions also target Russia's energy, finance, and transport sectors as well as banning the export of critical technologies and software from Europe to Russia. Visa restrictions are also to be introduced.
"The package of massive and targeted sanctions approved tonight shows how united the EU is," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensiky urged the EU to impose tougher sanctions on Russia over the invasion, after the bloc held off hitting Moscow with the full arsenal of punitive measures.
"Not all possibilities for sanctions have been exhausted yet. The pressure on Russia must increase," Zelensky wrote on Twitter after talking to von der Leyen.
In a video address to the nation earlier on February 25, Zelenskiy lamented the sanctions' lack of teeth.
"Did yesterday’s sanctions convince Russia? We hear in our sky and see on our earth that this was not enough,” he said.
SEE ALSO: Will Sanctions Slow Putin's War In Ukraine?Ukraine has sought for Russia to be excluded from SWIFT, the dominant system for global financial transactions. Latvia and the two other Baltic states, Estonia and Lithuania, have also called for the immediate exclusion of Russia from SWIFT, but some EU states have expressed reservations about taking that step.
“A number of countries are hesitant since it has serious consequences for themselves,” said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who believes a ban should be a last resort.