The European Union plans to hit Russian President Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the Ukrainian invasion by freezing their assets in the region, people familiar with the situation told The Washington Post.
The EU is expected to approve the measure, which will not bar Putin from traveling to the EU, on Friday afternoon, on the second day of major fighting between Russia and Ukraine.
The EU is also about to launch its second round of sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine, according to the Post.
Freezing the Kremlin’s assets could go into the second or third package of sanctions the EU is expected to release.
This represents the first move directly against Putin.
President Biden said in a speech Thursday the U.S. will not sanction Putin directly in its own latest round of economic penalties. Biden said the U.S. will be targeting Russian banks and wealthy individuals in the country.
Hundreds have already died in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, with Russian forces said to be within miles of Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv.
Ukraine and Russia are sending delegations to Belarus after Ukraine said they would consider having a nonaligned status with NATO instead of seeking membership to quell the fighting.
