BRUSSELS, Feb 25 (Reuters) – EU states agreed on Friday to freeze all European assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister, as the Ukrainian leader pleaded for faster and stronger sanctions. forceful to punish the Russian invasion of his country.

The decision against Putin and his top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, came as envoys from the 27 EU member states agreed on a new wave of measures – their second this week – to hit Russia’s elite and thwart the operations of 70% of the country’s banking system.

“We are now listing President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov as well,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said as she joined her EU counterparts to agree the new sanctions.

“They are responsible for the deaths of innocent people in Ukraine and the trampling of the international system. We as Europeans do not accept this.”

A senior EU diplomat said that although the Russian leadership may not have significant assets in Europe, the decision against them personally was “a politically important signal”.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Putin now joins only two other bloc-sanctioned world leaders: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus.

Borrell said the latest round of sanctions could be followed by a third, although that would only come if necessary.

Earlier on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Europe to move faster and more forcefully to impose sanctions on Moscow, accusing Western allies of playing politics as Moscow’s forces advanced on Kiev.

“You can always stop this aggression. You must act quickly,” he said, adding that the ban on Russians entering the EU, Moscow’s cutoff of the SWIFT global interbank payments system and an embargo on oil should all be on the table.

EU ministers’ agreement on comprehensive sanctions means the bloc has joined the United States and other Western countries in restricting Russia’s access to key technologies and funding.

The EU measures will also target Russian elites and make it more difficult for diplomats to travel, but the bloc has chosen not to curb Russian energy imports or – after objections from Germany and Italy, among others – to cut Russia off from SWIFT.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, hosting a meeting of EU counterparts in Paris to discuss the economic impact, said Russia’s withdrawal from SWIFT remained an option, but only as a “nuclear weapon financial” of last resort. Read more

He said some EU countries – but not France – had reservations about such a move, and that the European Central Bank was to provide an analysis “in the next few hours” on the consequences if taken.

Baerbock said the SWIFT option risked hurting individuals, such as those trying to send money to relatives in Russia, “while the people responsible for the bloodshed will still be able to do their banking “.

Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Foo Yun Chee in Brussels, and Leigh Thomas in Paris; Written by John Chalmers; Editing by Sandra Maler

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