US slaps individual sanctions on Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov

TIL Desk/World/Washington/ In a rare move, the US has slapped sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, holding them “directly responsible” for Moscow’s “unprovoked and unlawful” invasion of Ukraine.

The latest US sanctions build on other sweeping actions that America and partners took earlier this week targeting the core infrastructure of the Russian financial system, including sanctions against Moscow’s largest financial institutions, the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement.

The US, in coordination with allies and partners, continued to forcefully respond to Russia’s “unjustified, unprovoked and premeditated” invasion of Ukraine by imposing sanctions on Putin and Lavrov, as well as other members of Russia’s Security Council, according to the statement issued on Friday.

Putin and Lavrov are “directly responsible for Russia’s unprovoked and unlawful further invasion of Ukraine, a democratic sovereign state”, it said. The sanctions will go directly after their assets.

It is exceedingly rare for the Treasury to designate a head of state. “President Putin joins a very small group that includes despots such as (North Korea’s) Kim Jong Un, (Belarus President) Alyaksandr Lukashenka, and (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad,” the statement said.