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Feb 25 (Reuters) – The United States is expected to impose sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as Friday, CNN reported citing people familiar with the decision, as Washington looks to ramp up pressure on Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Additional Russian officials are also likely to be included as part of the fresh sanctions by the United States, CNN said.
The U.S. Treasury department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price, asked if the United States is planning to impose sanctions on Putin, said “all options are on the table,” adding that Washington is looking closely at additional options that may apply appropriate pressure on Russia, Putin and those around him.
The rare but not unprecedented move to impose sanctions on a head of state would come just a day after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, assaulting by land, sea and air in the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two.
Earlier on Friday, EU states and Britain agreed to freeze any European assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday, as Ukraine’s leader pleaded for faster and more forceful sanctions to punish Russia’s invasion of his country.
The United States has in the past imposed sanctions on heads of state, including on Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. (Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis in Washington and Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Sandra Maler)
