The UK is to issue personal sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister, Boris Johnson has declared.
After the EU decided on Friday to issue sanctions against the Russian President over the Ukraine invasion, the Prime Minister said similar steps would be taken against Putin and Serge Lavrov.
Neither man is thought to have any assets in the UK but it is a highly symbolic measure to take action against a head of state.
Downing Street made the announcement after Johnson met with Nato leaders on Friday and continued to appeal for European countries to block Russia from the SWIFT banking system.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister addressed a NATO leaders meeting this afternoon, to update allies on the UK’s next steps following the appalling bombardment of Ukraine.
“The Prime Minister urged leaders to take immediate action against SWIFT to inflict maximum pain on President Putin and his regime. The UK would introduce sanctions against President Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov imminently, on top of the sanctions package the UK announced yesterday, he said.
“The Prime Minister added that the world must make certain President Putin would fail in this act of aggression. Ukraine was showing strong resistance. He added that there could no normalisation of relations with Russia after this act.”
Western officials last night said that the Russian advance into Ukraine against “strong resistance” from Ukranian forces “focusing on the defence of key cities”.
Officials also warned that Putin would target the Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Asked about whether Zelenskyy himself could be targeted by Russian forces, a western source said: “The Ukrainian regime has been characterised by Putin and his spokesperson as Nazis, guilty of genocide, I think today they were described as Nazis and drug takers.
“So it’s clear the kind of vitriol coming from Russia about the Ukrainian leadership so I think we can expect that they would be targets for Russian forces coming into the city.”
Zelenskyy called on western governments to go further in supporting Ukraine as he posted a video message of himself and fellow Ministers in the capital preparing to defend the city.
In the video the President taunted the Russians, declaring: “We are here, we are in Kyiv, we are defending Ukraine.”
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