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Personal sanctions against Russian leadership reveal West’s impotence - diplomat

Earlier on Friday, the United Kingdom announced sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. The West’s personal sanctions against the Russian president and foreign minister reveal its impotence, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.

"Sanctions against the country’s president [Vladimir Putin] and foreign minister [Sergey Lavrov] are an example and demonstration of utter impotence [of the Western countries]," she said in an interview with Russia’s TV Channel One.

Earlier on Friday, the United Kingdom announced sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Their assets in the United Kingdom, if any, will be frozen. Zakharova said earlier that neither of them have any assets in foreign countries, including Great Britain.

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.

When clarifying the unfolding developments, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.

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American Abrams tanks vulnerable even to Soviet-era weapons, says expert

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US volunteer Russel Bentley missing in Donetsk killed — RT editor-in-chief

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

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