The West is ramping up sanctions against the Kremlin as Russia continues to press forward with its invasion of Ukraine.
Sanctions are now directly targeting Russia's President Vladimir Putin, as well as prominent business people known as oligarchs. The United States and the European Union announced today new sanctions as Russian troops approached Ukraine's capital Kyiv.The European Union will freeze any assets Mr. Putin has on the continent, as well as those of his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The EU's 27 member states agreed on a new wave of measures — their second this week — to hit Russia's elite and thwart operations of 70 percent of the country's banking system.
Mr. Putin is now just the third world leader who has personal sanctions imposed by the bloc, after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus.
