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Military operation in Ukraine

EU places Putin, Lavrov on sanctions list - Borrell

"We will also target those in Belarus who collaborate with the Russian military aggression against Ukraine," EU foreign policy chief said

BRUSSELS, February 25. /TASS/. The European Union has decided to impose sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said at a press conference after an emergency meeting of the EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Friday.

"We have listed today President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov [on the list of sanctions]," he said, revealing that the EU Council approved the second package of individual and economic sanctions against Russia.

"President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov are in the list of sanctioned people together with the remaining members of the Duma (Russian parliament) who are supporting this aggression," Borrell told reporters after a meeting of the EU ministers in Brussels.

"We will also target those in Belarus who collaborate with the Russian military aggression against Ukraine," he said.

In the early hours of Friday, the European Union convened a summit meeting in Brussels to approve the second set of anti-Russian sanctions targeting individuals and the economy for Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. Among new restrictions, they debated the possibility of excluding Russia from the SWIFT financial transaction system.

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden said that Russia would not be denied access to SWIFT yet, stressing that the US sanctions announced earlier would be "devastating."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on Thursday morning that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.

Shortly thereafter, the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom announced the imposition of sanctions on Russian individuals and entities.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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