World leaders slap sanctions on the Kremlin over invasion

BRUSSELS (AP) — World leaders have condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “barbaric” and quickly slapped heavy sanctions on the Russian economy, President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle and many of the country’s oligarchs.

U.S. President Joe Biden says Putin started the war, and “now he and his country will bear the consequences.”

In near-unison, the United States, the 27-nation European Union and other Western allies have announced a round of punitive measures against Russian banks and leading companies and imposed export controls aimed at starving the Kremlin’s industries and military of semiconductors and other high-tech products.