Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a set of sanctions on Russia, which include imposing sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin, his chief of staff, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, writes CNN.

“Canada is announcing our third set of severe, coordinated sanctions. First, we will be imposing sanctions on President Putin and his fellow architects of this barbaric war, his chief of staff and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Additionally, I am confirming Canada"s support to remove Russia from the SWIFT payment system, a critical part of the global banking system”, - Trudeau said.

Excluding Russian banks from SWIFT, a high security network that connect thousands of financial institutions around the world, “would make it even more difficult for President Putin to finance his brutalities”, according to Trudeau.

“Canada is also announcing that we will levy additional sanctions on Belarus and its leaders for abetting President Putin"s invasion of a free and sovereign nation”, - he said.