On February 24, 2022, following Russia’s attack on Ukraine in the early hours of the morning, both the European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK) announced sanctions against Russia.

Specifically, Reuters reports that EU officials have announced that they “[would] impose new sanctions on Russia, freezing its assets, halting its banks' access to European financial markets and hitting 'Kremlin interests’ over its invasion of Ukraine.” The goal of these sanctions is said to push Russia’s leadership to face “unprecedented isolation." More specifically, according to JURIST, the EU froze the assets of Putin and Lavrov and targeted 70% of the Russian banking market and state-owned companies.” Additionally, the Council of Europe suspended on February 25 Russia’s right to representation in the Committee of Ministers. The suspension of Russia’s right to representation was effective immediately.

Following suit, The Guardian reports that the UK has announced the issuance of its “largest ever” set of economic sanctions on Russia. The sanctions include “pushing to end Russia’s use of the Swift international payment systems, freezing assets of all major Russian banks, limiting cash held by Russian nationals in UK banks, and sanctioning more than 100 individuals and entities.” Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced such action would go into effect immediately.

The EU and the UK announcement of sanctions, join the U.S. who had already announced sanctions. JURIST reports that U.S. sanctions “targeted the Russian financial system’s core infrastructure by sanctioning Russia’s largest financial institutions, restricting its ability to raise funds, and forbidding it from accessing critical technologies.”