Vladimir Putin
Vladimir PutinReuters

European Union (EU) foreign ministers on Friday added Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the EU's sanctions list following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

"President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov are in the list of sanctioned people together with the remaining members of the Duma (Russian parliament) who are supporting this aggression," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters after a meeting of the EU ministers in Brussels, according to the AFP news agency.

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics tweeted that the 27-nation bloc’s foreign ministers adopted the sanctions package and “the asset freeze includes President of Russia and its Foreign Minister.”

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said, according to The Associated Press, that the move would be “a unique step in history toward a nuclear power, a country that has a permanent seat on the Security Council, but also shows … how united we are.”

EU ministers have said that even further sanctions were still possible, including booting Russia off SWIFT, the dominant system for global financial transactions.

“The debate about SWIFT is not off the table, it will continue,” Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said.

Meanwhile, the Council of Europe suspended Russia from the continent’s foremost human rights organization. The 47-nation council said Russia remained a member and continued to be bound by the relevant human rights conventions.

On Thursday night, EU leaders agreed to impose new economic sanctions on Russia, freezing Russian assets in the bloc and halting its banks' access to European financial markets.

The sanctions will also target Russia's energy and transport sectors among others, and seek to stifle its trade and manufacturing with export controls.

(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)