EU to freeze assets of Putin, Russian foreign minister

The European Union agreed to hit Russian President Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the Ukrainian invasion by freezing their assets in the region.

The EU approved the measure on Friday afternoon, Latvia’s Foreign Minister Edgard Rinkevics tweeted on the second day of major fighting between Russia and Ukraine. 

“EU Foreign Affairs Council has adopted the 2nd sanctions package, asset freeze includes President of Russia and its Foreign Minister. We will prepare the 3d package #StandWithUkraine,” the foreign minister said.

The EU is also about to launch its second round of sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine, according to The Washington Post.

Freezing the Kremlin’s assets could go into the second or third package of sanctions the EU is expected to release. 

This represents the first move directly against Putin since he began his military buildup along Ukraine’s border and attacked Ukraine overnight on Wednesday.

President Biden said in a speech Thursday the U.S. will not sanction Putin directly in its own latest round of economic penalties. Biden said the U.S. will be targeting Russian banks and wealthy individuals in the country. 

Hundreds have already died in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, with Russian forces said to be within miles of Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv. 

Ukraine and Russia are sending delegations to Belarus after Ukraine said they would consider having a nonaligned status with NATO instead of seeking membership to quell the fighting.

Updated: 1:21 p.m.