World fine-tuning Russia sanctions; EU targets Putin, Lavrov

By RAF CASERT and FOSTER KLUG
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — The world has made it clear that a military intervention in Ukraine is off the books, so most countries on Friday were throwing ever more punishment at Moscow from financial to football sanctions. The European Union on Friday was considering freezing the assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. But it was unclear how badly they would be hit by such a move or if it would be mainly symbolic. It did indicate however that Western powers were moving toward unprecedented measures to force Putin to stop the brutal invasion of Russia’s neighbor and unleash a major war in Europe.