- President Joe Biden is planning to impose sanctions directly on Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
- The European Union and United Kingdom announced they would introduce sanctions targeting Putin and Lavrov
- ‘In alignment with the decision by our European allies, the United States will join them in sanctioning President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov,’ Jen Psaki said
- The move will be largely symbolic as it remains unclear where Putin’s money is and how much there is of it
- Biden had been under pressure to directly target the Russian leader
- Biden also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for about 40 minutes on Friday
- Zelensky said the two men discussed stronger sanctions on Russia and more support from the United States
- ‘Strengthening sanctions, concrete defense assistance and an anti-war coalition have just been discussed with @POTUS. Grateful to [United States],’ he said
- Zelensky is also battling a Russian-disinformation campaign that he had fled Kyiv
- ‘We are here. We are in Kyiv. We are defending Ukraine,’ Zelensky said in a video posted to Facebook, speaking from the streets
President Joe Biden is planning to impose sanctions directly on Vladimir Putin, the White House announced on Friday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wil also be targeted.