Russian President Vladimir Putin is only one of a handful of leaders sanctioned by the European Union along with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday.

"President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov are in the list of sanctioned people together with the remaining members of the Duma (Russian Parliament) who are supporting this aggression," Borrell told reporters after a meeting of the EU ministers in Brussels.