European diplomacy chief Josep Borrell said following an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Friday, that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had been put on a sanctions list, Deutsche Welle reported. 

The EU Council at a meeting approved the second package of sanctions for Russia's launching a full-scale war against Ukraine.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the EU would impose tough sanctions against President Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.

“We are hitting Putin’s system where it has to be hit, not only economically and financially, but also at the heart of its power,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

“We are not just listing oligarchs … but we are now also listing the president, Mr Putin, and the foreign minister, Mr Lavrov,” Baerbock added.

Annalena Berbok also explained why there are no plans to disconnect Russia from the international payment system SWIFT yet.

“Iran’s experience has shown that disengaging from SWIFT has unnecessarily broad implications, as opposed to targeted sanctions against specific banks. As a result, we have lost the ability to finance humanitarian projects, for example,” she said.

According to Baerbock, disconnecting Russia from SWIFT may also adversely affect Russians living abroad who send money to relatives in Russia. At the same time, the German foreign minister did not rule out the possibility of disconnecting Russia from SWIFT in the future when "unnecessary side effects" are eliminated.