U.S. will sanction Putin, Lavrov and other Russian officials

The U.S. government will impose direct sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the White House announced on Friday, joining the European Union as Russian forces continue their full-fledged assault on Ukraine.

“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 at her Friday briefing. “I expect we'll have more specific details out later this afternoon.”

The EU announced it will freeze the assets of Putin and Lavrov as part of a sanctions package announced Friday, an element of the West’s response to mounting pressure from Ukraine to ratchet up its punishments for Moscow. The package does not include restricting Putin’s travel to the EU, though Psaki suggested the U.S.’s sanctions might include a ban impacting the Russian president’s travels to the United States.

The direct sanctions on Russia's top political leaders also come after the EU agreed to impose “massive” sanctions on Russia, including on its financial, energy and transport sectors, plus export controls and visa policies. President Joe Biden also announced a second, larger U.S. sanctions package on Thursday, including export blocks on technology, limits on Russia’s ability to finance and grow its military and aerospace sector, and sanctions targeting Russian elites and Putin’s inner circle, as well as Russian banks, including VTB.

Biden had previously said Thursday that sanctioning Putin directly was “on the table.”

“It has been under consideration and on the table for some time, as you know, and as I just conveyed, the president’s strong view and strong principle from the beginning of this conflict, and even before, I should say, has been to take actions and steps in alignment with our European partners, and this is certainly evidence of that,” Psaki said during Friday’s press briefing.

The Biden administration also announced Friday that it would impose sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

The fund acts as Russia’s de-facto fourth sovereign wealth fund and is used as a vehicle to drive investment into the country. The fund partners with other sovereign wealth funds across the world on projects that have a direct impact on the Russian economy. Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the fund, was educated in America and is well-known in western financial circles.

The U.S. sanctioned RDIF during the Obama administration in 2014. But the sanctions did not prevent the fund from doing business with American institutions or businesses — they just made it more difficult to extend credit to the fund.

White House Spokesperson Jen Psaki said the Treasury Department is imposing “full blocking sanctions” on the fund, likely restricting Americans from conducting all business with the fund. It’s not immediately clear if there are any exceptions.

Erin Banco contributed to this report.