EU imposes travel bans and asset freezes on a further 160 Russians

theguardian.com:

The EU has imposed travel bans and asset freezes on a further 160 Russians, including 14 oligarchs and their families, as the bloc seeks to further squeeze individuals closest to Vladimir Putin.

Those targeted, who have yet to be named, are said by EU officials to provide a substantial source of revenue to the Russian Federation in the metallurgical, agriculture, pharmaceutical, telecom and digital industries.

Within the new round of sanctions, 146 members of the Russian senate who ratified a treaty recognising the self-proclaimed republics in Luhansk and Donetsk are also hit.

The EU’s sanctions policy is driven by a desire to ratchet up the pressure on those who have enriched themselves under Putin’s leadership to encourage them to act against the Russian president.

Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus is also now captured by the EU’s “restrictive measures” because of the aid his government has given Putin’s invading forces.

Four Belarusian banks have been cut off from the Swift payments system while transactions are now prohibited with the Central Bank of Belarus.

The EU has already blocked seven Russian banks from Swift and leaders of the 27 member states will debate taking further measures against Sberbank and Gazprombank, the vehicles of gas and oil payments, when they meet in Versailles on Thursday, officials said.

EU restrictive measures now apply to a total of 862 individuals and 53 entities. As with Russians, the EU has now banned Belarusian citizens from depositing more than €100,000 in European banks.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign policy, said: “With these additional sectoral sanctions, we are sending a strong message: the unprovoked and unjustified military aggression waged against