KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is the latest target of international sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine after the United States, Canada and European allies announced they are preparing direct action against him and his minister. of Exteriors.
With Russian forces on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital Kiev early Saturday morning, diplomatic calls seemed to take a backseat to the imposition of financial sanctions, while condemnation mounted around the world.
Asked if the president of the United States, Joe Biden, had planned a more direct diplomatic proposal towards Putin, the press secretary of the White House, Jen Psaki, answered on Friday that he had not, although this “does not mean that we have ruled out diplomatic forever”.
According to Psaki, Washington is preparing individual sanctions against Putin and his Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, which could include travel restrictions. The announcement came hours after the European Union revealed its intention to freeze Putin’s assets and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told NATO leaders that his country would also sanction the two leaders.
In addition, the United States would again sanction the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which functions as a sovereign wealth fund aimed at attracting capital to the Russian economy, Psaki added. Washington and its European allies had earlier announced asset freezes and other punitive measures against Russian banks, state-owned companies and elites.
The White House moves block Putin and Lavrov — whom the Treasury Department described in its formal announcement as the Russian leader’s “chief propagandist” — from access to any assets within the reach of U.S. authorities and prohibit anyone in the country do business with them. The consequences also reached members of the Russian Security Council.
The upcoming sanctions will not prohibit contact between, say, Putin and Biden or US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterpart Lavrov.
It was not clear what the real impact of the measures will be on the two Russian leaders or the magnitude of their assets in Europe.
EU ministers have said other sanctions are still possible, including kicking Russia out of SWIFT, the main system for global financial transactions. For his part, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his country would support this measure.
Russia has begun to respond with its own measures, banning British flights over its territory in retaliation for a similar London ban on airline Aeroflot and announcing a “partial restriction” on access to Facebook after the social network limited the accounts of several Kremlin-backed media.
Moscow also vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for halting the attack on Ukraine and withdrawing its troops.
The international measures against Russia included an extraordinary visit by Pope Francis to the Russian embassy to “express his concern about the war,” the Vatican said. On the sporting front, UEFA withdrew the organization of the Champions League final to Saint Petersburg and Formula One canceled this season’s Russian Grand Prix.
And Eurovision, the popular European song contest, vetoed Russia in the final to be held in May in Italy.
Countries in Asia and the Pacific have joined the United States, the EU and other Western allies in cracking down on Russian banks and major companies. In addition, various export controls were established in order to leave industries and the army without semiconductors and other high-tech products.
Australia announced on Saturday that it will sanction all 339 members of the Russian parliament, as well as eight oligarchs close to Putin, while considering measures against the president himself and Lavrov.
Japan and South Korea said on Saturday that their foreign ministers had spoken with Blinken. But Japanese Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on whether Tokyo plans to take action against the two Russian politicians. The South Korean ministry, for its part, said Blinken thanked Seoul for its willingness to participate in international sanctions against Moscow, but did not provide further details.
China continues to denounce the sanctions against Russia and blames the United States and its allies for provoking Moscow. Beijing, worried about Washington’s power in Asia, has increasingly aligned its foreign policy with that of the Kremlin to challenge the West.
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Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.
