January 1, US Issues Sanctions Against Putin

The White House announced that the U.S. is imposing sanctions directly against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“In alignment with the decision by our European allies, the United States will join them in sanctioning President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov and members of the Russian national security team,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

Psaki confirmed that Putin and Lavrov would be banned from traveling to the U.S.

The European Union and the U.K. announced that they would sanction Putin and Lavrov and freeze their assets, though the EU did not impose visa restrictions.

Psaki’s announcement marks an extremely rare move by the U.S., issuing sanctions against a sitting world leader.

The Kremlin has previously said it considers sanctions on Putin directly tantamount to severing relations between the U.S. and Russia.

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U.S. joins EU and U.K. in sanctioning Putin directly