Western nations have ordered personal sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over the invasion of Ukraine.
The men’s assets in the US, EU, UK and Canada will be frozen and, in the case of the US, a travel ban imposed.
The announcement came on the second day of the Russian attack on its neighbour.
Such punitive measures against leaders are rare. The EU has only ever imposed sanctions on the presidents of Syria and Belarus, for instance.
The US, for its part, has previously announced measures against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in addition to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.
It is unclear how significant the assets of Mr Putin and Mr Lavrov are in the US, EU, UK and Canada, and what practical impact the sanctions will have.
