The EU is planning to freeze the assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, as part of a sanctions package set for approval Friday, according to four diplomats.
They will not, however, be banned from traveling to the EU.
The move comes as the EU faces pressure from Ukraine to ratchet up its penalties on Moscow, with Russian troops closing in on Kyiv and threatening to topple the government. The Financial Times first reported the decision.
It also comes shortly after EU leaders approved what they called a “massive and painful” package of economic penalties in response to Moscow’s shocking military assault on its neighbor.
The punishments cut off large portions of the Russian economy from EU markets. But the package did not bar Russia from the SWIFT international payments system, used for global business transactions, nor did it target Putin and some of his closest advisers, like Lavrov.
As of Friday afternoon, that appears to have changed.
The possibility of sanctioning Putin and Lavrov was discussed during the EU leaders’ emergency summit meeting held overnight Thursday into Friday.
While several leaders pushed for the penalties, others had doubts. A compromise was floated that involved freezing their assets but holding off on a travel ban. That arrangement got the final green light Friday morning.
EU leaders also deliberated Thursday night whether to target more Russian oligarchs, in the hopes that it may cause them to turn against the Russian president. And, according to one of the diplomats, the EU’s stance on a SWIFT ban could change in the coming hours or days.
