Organ transplants from pigs: Medical miracle or pandemic in the making?

The Conversation
February 27, 2022

Funny pigs in sty leaning on wall (Shutterstock)

Three out of four new diseases are zoonotic, meaning they have evolved to infect new host species. For example, a mutated bird-flu virus may jump from wild birds to free-range domestic poultry and then to humans who are in contact with poultry. Similar pathways have led to infection by the pathogens that cause Ebola, Zika, HIV, Lyme disease and likely COVID-19.

If a new medical technology increased the risk of a new zoonotic pandemic — however marginally — how would society decide the balance of risk and benefit? If you needed new lungs that were only available in another country, would a health prohibition on the transplant in your own country stop you?

New developments in organ transplant technology may have streamlined a pathway for new zoonotic diseases, but the biotechnology innovators and medical research institutes have not engaged the public on the risks. Failing to do so may jeopardize the potential of a promising therapy.

Xenotransplantation

Over 4,400 Canadians are waitlisted for the lifesaving transplant of a new kidney, liver or lung. In 2019, 250 died waiting. In the United States and elsewhere, the supply gap is more extreme and high hopes ride on xenotransplantation: the transplanting of cells, tissues or organs from animals.

Pre-clinical trials of organ transplants from pigs have addressed the technical barriers to xenotransplantation, reducing the likelihood of rejection. Last summer, Maryland School of Medicine surgeons reported the 31-day survival of a baboon after receiving a lung from a genetically modified pig.

Weeks later, a team at New York University transplanted a kidney from a genetically modified pig into a brain-dead person. In December 2021, surgeons at Maryland School of Medicine transplanted a genetically modified pig heart into a living 57-year-old man.

All projects were approved under U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, and corporate funding was supplemented by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The next step with the FDA is to approve clinical trials. Normalization of xenotransplantation could happen before there is informed public acceptance of the benefits and risks.
A potential zoonotic pathway

As a developmental geneticist, it has been exciting to track these advances. The revolution in designer gene editing (known as CRISPR-Cas9) makes this stunning progress possible. CRISPR allows molecules on the surface of pig cells to be modified so the human immune system will not trigger tissue rejection.


Zoonotic bacteria and viruses enter most readily through the delicate surfaces of the respiratory tract.
(Shutterstock)

To prevent human transplant recipients from being infected with pig retroviruses (viruses that can integrate their genetic material into the host’s cells), the retroviruses hiding in the pig genome have been removed by CRISPR editing. The risk of transferring a disease directly from a genetically modified donor pig to the human host is negligible.

However, disease-free transplanted pig organs could become infected after transplantation. Zoonotic bacteria and viruses enter hosts most readily through the delicate surfaces of the respiratory tract, as with COVID-19. Living pig cells in a transplanted lung could readily be infected by an inhaled pig virus, including a novel virus from a wild animal host that has evolved to infect pigs.

After entering the human body, a replicating zoonotic virus could generate millions of mutations a day, because their mechanism for gene copying is naturally error prone. A pig virus replicating in a lung transplanted into a human could produce variants that may be capable of recognizing and infecting human cells. Although likely a rare event, it is not impossible that this could trigger a new zoonotic pandemic.

Risk, fear and polarization

The scenario described above could evoke risk and fear from a complex new medical technology. It parallels the thinking involved in vaccine hesitancy or the distrust of genetically modified foods. Both are well anchored in today’s political culture. In both cases, citizens increasingly demand prior consent and the choice to opt out — despite possible risks to public health. Vaccine hesitancy has increased the death toll from COVID-19 and delayed economic recovery from the pandemic.

In contrast, distrust of the industrialization of food has discouraged introduction of genetically modified foods that enhance nutrition or sustain agricultural productivity in a warming climate. Consumers question whether genetically modified organisms (GMOs) exist for public benefit or for corporate profit.


GMO IS OMG BACKWARDS

Distrust of the industrialization of food has discouraged introduction of GMO foods.
(CP PHOTO/Paul Chiasson)

Increasingly, health issues such as vaccination, vaping or genetic testing generate highly polarized platforms for misinformation, debate and political leverage. Social media algorithms amplify extreme positions and elicit strong emotional reactions at the expense of the middle ground. When communications from the scientific community are reactive, poorly targeted or unintelligible to the average person, the influence of science in the policy process is diminished.

In 2022, progress in xenotransplant technology makes good news stories. Immense pressure to resolve the growing organ shortage for transplantation may tempt the biotechnology business and public regulators to be insufficiently critical as they seek permission to proceed with clinical studies. They must prepare for the nature and scale of backlash from those tired of experts and mistrustful of corporate motivation and institutional authority.

Concern about zoonosis from transplants was voiced over twenty years ago, long before CRISPR transformed the field. Since then, there appear to be no hard facts or even a call for research on zoonotic infection through xenotransplants after transplantation. Bioethicists are flagging the issue now, but the silence about xenotransplant zoonosis from biotechnology corporations and their affiliated preclinical research institutes leaves an open door to a narrative motivated by skepticism and distrust. It is incumbent on them to lead a public dialogue on managing the risk of novel zoonotic diseases arising from infection after transplantation.

J Roger Jacobs, Professor, Department of Biology, McMaster University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

BATTLE OF THE BULGE REDUX

Georgian oil tanker refuses to refuel Russian ship: 'You have oars — row'

Sarah K. Burris
February 27, 2022


Voice Of America reporter Fatima Tils posted a video showing a Georgian oil tanker refusing to help refuel Russian ships.

According to the video, the Russian ship asked to be refueled, begging, "Come on, let's leave politics aside." The Georgian ship refused, echoing the military message from those who refused to surrender to Russia on Snake Island.

The first few days of the Russian military strikes, the Russian military told the soldiers over an announcement to surrender. The Ukrainian military members replied, "Go f*ck yourself."

The sentiment was echoed this weekend from the Georgians as well. "Russian ship, go f*ck yourself. Glory to Ukraine!"

They went on to tell the Russian ship that they have oars and could row their ship instead.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday morning that Russia was forced to send three massive natural gas tanker ships near a Kaliningrad outpost that was behind NATO lines so they could refuel.


"It is an apparent move to maintain fuel supplies to the tiny militarized region in case conflict severs pipeline flows," the report explained.

See the video of the ship's communication below:

Hackers say they changed the call sign for Putin's yacht with a special message to him

Sarah K. Burris

RAW STORY
February 27, 2022

Vladimir Putin's yacht, Graceful, appears to have a different call sign on a few yacht tracking websites.

As Russian oligarch yachts are being tracked around the world, Putin's luxury boat typically has the call sign UBGV8, according to FleetMon.



But on another website, MarineTraffic, Bloomberg reporter Ryan Gallagher and Good Pillow CEO William LeGate noticed that someone changed the call sign to FCKPTN and its current maritime position is "Hell."

Gallagher tweeted that it was an offshoot group from the hackers Anonymous known as The Anon Leaks,

They "told me they did it by manipulating the maritime 'Automatic Identification System,' which is used to track ship locations," he tweeted. "They said they wanted to put the yacht in the scope of sanction packages as well as 'put a little smile on some faces for a short period in these dark times.'"

The website VesselTracker lists the call sign as ANONYMO.

The yacht left Germany in early February after there were warnings of sanctions.

 

  

‘Absolutely hammered’: Watch this shocking video of an annihilated Russian armored convoy

Bob Brigham
February 28, 2022

www.youtube.com

CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance aired an amazing video on Monday of a Russian armored convoy that had been annihilated during Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

"Right within the past few hours there has been a ferocious battle here on the outskirts of Kyiv," he reported. "And this is one of those Russian, Soviet-era vehicles, which is completely burned out."

"You can see this is a bridge actually. There's an access point to the northwest of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital and the Russian column that has come down here has been absolutely hammered," he reported.

He reported Ukrainian commanders said they had been using western anti-tank missiles to attack Russian troops.

"Obviously we're still in a very exposed situation right now. There is debris everywhere, the twisted metal of these vehicles. This is obviously just a truck carrying supplies. We saw the armored vehicle in front there. I mean, looking around -- look at this what kind of munitions does it take to do that to a car, to a vehicle? You know, I know that I've been speaking to the local Ukrainian commanders here, they've been saying they were using western anti-tank missiles to attack these columns."

"Look, so recent the battle, this vehicle is still smoking," he reported. "There's still smoke coming out of the back of that, ammunition boxes on the ground," he reported. "A real scene of devastation along this bridge."

Watch:

Ukrainian LGBTQ activists worry 'Russia will kill them' if Putin is victorious

Matthew Chapman
February 28, 2022

LGBTQ advocates wave a rainbow flag (Wikimedia Commons)

On Monday, writing for Newsweek, Alex Rouhandeh broke down one of the lesser-discussed potential consequences of Russia toppling the government of Ukraine: a new era of repression for LGBTQ communities in Eastern Europe.

"Although not an international leader in the advancement of LGBTQ+ rights, Ukraine has taken significant steps over the past decade to better the lives of its queer citizens. In 2015 it implemented anti-discrimination employment laws, and in 2016 it began allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood, all part of an effort to become a more equitable state," wrote Rouhandeh. "In contrast, Russia has moved in the opposite direction. In 2013, it banned same-sex couples from adopting Russian children, and in 2020 it outlawed same-sex marriage. The Kremlin has also cracked down on the ability of LGBTQ+ activists to organize, and has permitted law enforcement in the Chechnya region to carry out violent campaigns against the community."

Experts in the region fear things could get much worse if Russia is successful in seizing Ukraine and installing a puppet state.

"Bogdan Globa, who heads the nonprofit LGBTQ Ukrainians in America, fears the individuals who've spent years fighting for these advancements could become Putin's first targets," said the report. "'LGBT activists usually are the same people who care about human rights,' Globa told Newsweek. 'They are people who work locally but travel internationally to speak with media.'" He added: "Russia will kill them. Because after they will take over Ukraine, they will need to install their puppet government to control territory, and human rights activists are the people who prevent that control."

Putin's harsh treatment of queer communities has caught the attention of the American Right — some of whom have actually cited this as an argument for why we should switch sides to support Russia in the war. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, for instance, said on his War Room show that Russia deserves U.S. support because it is "anti-woke" and "doesn't have Pride flags."

Dee Snider dissects twisted logic of anti-maskers vs. sovereignty defenders in Ukraine for use of ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’

2022/2/28 
© New York Daily News

Ukrainian servicemen get ready to repel an attack in Ukraine's Lugansk region on Feb. 24, 2022. - Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider is busy untangling the logic employed by people who don’t understand why the rock band’s iconic hit “We’re Not Gonna Take It” would be sanctioned for use by the Ukrainian resistance as they fight off Russian aggression and not for use by anti-maskers.

“People are asking me why I endorsed the use of ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ for the Ukrainian people and did not for the anti-maskers,” Snider said in a tweet, after endorsing the song’s use as a rallying cry in the face of the unprovoked invasion. “Well, one use is for a righteous battle against oppression; the other is an infantile feet stomping against an inconvenience.”

In September 2020, the heavy metal band frontman blasted anti-maskers for appropriating his 1984 hit song after a flash mob descended on a Target store in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

“No, these selfish a— do not have my permission or blessing to use my song for their moronic cause,” he tweeted at the time.

Flash forward to 2022, when Russia’s President Vladimir Putin started bombarding a defiant Ukraine, whose citizens have been fighting in the streets. In doing so, Snider invoked his own heritage.

“I absolutely approve of Ukrainians using ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ as their battle cry,” he said on Twitter. “My grandfather was Ukrainian, before it was swallowed up by the USSR after WW2. This can’t happen to these people again! F— Russia.”

Canadian parliament member calls out Lauren Boebert for calling on US to invade Canada

Sarah K. Burris
February 27, 2022

Lauren Boebert (Screen Grab)

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) spoke to Fox while at CPAC on Sunday and claimed that the United States has no business being involved in the invasion of Ukraine. Instead, she believes that the U.S. should move into Canada and "liberate" them.

"But we also have neighbors to the north who need freedom and who need to be liberated and we need that right here at home," she added.

It prompted Canadians to lash out with disapproval, including Canadian officials. MP Anthony Housefather invited Boebert to call him so he could talk to her about what Canada is and believe. Boebert's information about Canada appears to be focused on the so-called "freedom convoy," of anti-vaccine truck drivers

Former US Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman similarly spoke out against Boebert, calling her "reckless" and "dangerous." He explained that she "crosses every line of diplomacy and decency.

IT'S BEEN TRIED

Before 'Stop the Steal' there was 'Free, white and over 21'

Yvette Lagonterie, Salon
February 28, 2022

Trump supporters at Stop the Steal rally outside Minnesota State Capitol.

 (Photo credit: Chad Davis)

It was late when we returned to the hotel. We parked the rental cars in the back lot, nearest the entrance that opened to the shortest walk to our block of rooms. A sign posted on that door directed that the rear entrance not be used after 9 p.m. My coworkers were fatigued from a long workday followed by an evening out with drinks. One objected to walking around the building to the front of the hotel. While we all stood in the dark, she exclaimed that we should disregard the sign because, after all, "We are free, White, and over 21." The ease with which the phrase fell from her mouth left no doubt that she had uttered it comfortably many times before. However, on that occasion, her mouth spoke before her mind caught up.

I was the only one who did not fit her description. I was born with a permanent early summer tan and tight curl to my hair. Her declaration of privilege was based on her membership in a group to which I do not belong. Admittedly, after dusk and from a distance, my African ancestry might not be noticed. That was not the case that evening; these colleagues knew me. Everyone grew silent. The offender noticed the change in the group's disposition. Then, as responsible U.S. Department of Justice employees in town on official business, we all walked to the front door.

Thirty years later, the "free, White, and over 21" mentality was well represented among those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. After Trump told them "we will stop the steal" a mob broke through the doors of the Capitol Building with a fearlessness stemming from the belief that the rules do not apply to them. Jenna Ryan, who recorded herself participating in the insurrection, paraphrased this slogan when she proclaimed on her Twitter account that she would not go to jail because she is blond and has white skin.

"Free, white, and over 21" sought to overturn an election, to deny the majority of American voters their will. They failed. Their state-level elected adherents are now legislating restrictions calculated to diminish ballot access to minority voters. This is not a new assault on a multi-racial democracy; it is just the latest chapter.

The slogan "Free, white, and 21" was reportedly popularized in the 1820s during the movement to extend the vote to men who were not property owners. Including "white" in their chant was a pledge to white supremacy. In several states, free African American men who met the property requirements had the right to vote during the nation's early years. However, even as the white proletariat was gaining the franchise, it was being stripped from people of color in some of those states — New Jersey in 1807, Maryland in 1810, North Carolina in 1835 and Pennsylvania in 1838.

New York's original state constitution did not prohibit suffrage to free people of color. The Democratic-Republican party was concerned that free Negros overwhelmingly voted for the Federalist party. In 1811, an act to prevent fraud at elections was passed. Section III specified onerous and costly documentation requirements specifically for Negros. Ten years later, in 1821, New York State reduced the property requirement for White males, but increased it for African Americans

The Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1870, prohibited the denial or abridgment of any citizen's right to vote based on race, color or previous condition of servitude. Nevertheless, those who were "free, white, and over 21" in the Southern states quickly established repugnant clauses that did not mention race or servitude, but used other text to precisely deny African Americans their right to vote.

Judicial and legislative initiatives failed to overcome the Southern insistence on preserving white supremacy through voter suppression, fierce segregation and mob violence. The infamous white supremacist, South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond, hypocritically argued against federal laws to outlaw discrimination at the polls and elsewhere, saying that it was not the government's place to regulate human behavior. Thurmond knew well that the South was firmly in the business of policing human behavior through thousands of racially oppressive Jim Crow laws.

It took a brilliant organizer, thousands of activists, the martyrdom of too many, and the mettle of one president to finally achieve the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965. The VRA was Dr. Martin Luther King's great legislative accomplishment. Its impact has been monumental. Dr. King famously said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. But justice's opponents sometimes manage to twist the arc. We must not let it bend back in the direction of injustice.

"Black Americans vote at the same rate as Americans." When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made this Freudian slip on January 19, 2022, his mouth may have been speaking before his mind caught up. Who does McConnell view as Americans? Besides, the rising African American voting rate appears to be the "problem" many of Senator McConnell's GOP colleagues across our nation are trying to "solve." That was the finding of the federal appeals court in 2016 when it struck down the North Carolina voter identification law. The court's decision stated that provisions of the North Carolina law deliberately "target African-Americans with almost surgical precision" in order to suppress Black voter turnout.

McConnell's impolitic reasoning was his justification for opposing the John Lewis Voting Rights bill. But his claim is incorrect. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, 62.6% of the Black American electorate voted in 2020, compared to 70.9% of White Americans. The eight percentage point gap is the widest difference between White and Black voter turn-out in a presidential election since 1996. The gap is even wider when the 70.9% White voter turn-out is compared to the 58.4% for all non-white voters (Black, Latino and Asian).

Black voter turnout swelled in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected. A surge of restrictive legislation and electoral changes were introduced by many states in response. The 1965 Voting Rights Act included a formidable provision requiring that electoral changes in states with a history of discouraging African American suffrage be cleared by the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) before implementation. Shelby County, Alabama, did not want its desired changes subject to clearance, thus sued the U.S. Justice Department. The U.S. Supreme Court's 2013 decision in Shelby County v Holder struck down the 1965 Act's essential preclearance requirement. Following the removal of that DOJ review, the surge became a storm. For example, over 1,000 polling sites have been selectively closed in the states once subject to oversight.

Who deserves to vote? Everyone who is eligible. How should elections be administered? By making it as easy as possible for every eligible citizen who wants a voice in the nation's future to vote. What do you think? Honest and accurate information should be widely available to help each of us make our decisions. What is not democracy is the effort to limit the franchise to only those who agree with you — or look like you.

From the mid-1800s through the 1950s, "Free, white, and over 21" was a catchphrase commonly included in books and movie scripts. In the 20th century, white protagonists frequently claimed these three attributes as the evidence of their freedom to do as they please. In the 1959 apocalyptic film, "The World, the Flesh, and the Devil," Harry Belafonte's character Ralph and Inger Stevens' character Sarah found themselves the last survivors of a nuclear blast. At one point, Sarah declared to Ralph "I am free, white, and over 21." Belafonte's Ralph replied to his new friend that her carefree toss of that expression "was like an arrow in my guts."

Although the phrase has gone underground, the sentiment has not. The discriminatory intent of many recently enacted and proposed state laws and directives is transparent. The right to vote must be protected from those who strive to limit it, again.

CAPITALI$M IN SPACE

NASA, Axiom plan update on private astronaut mission to ISS

A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft sits on top of a Falcon 9 rocket as it is being prepared to launch NASA's SpaceX Crew-3 to the International Space Station from Florida in November. File Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 28 (UPI) -- NASA and Houston-based Axiom Space are expected to provide more details Monday about their plan to launch the first all-private astronaut mission, Ax-1, to the International Space Station in late March.

Former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegria will command the crew that also includes three paying passengers to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket March 30. Liftoff is set for 2:46 p.m. EDT from Complex 39-A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA and Axiom's virtual press conference about the mission will start at 11 a.m. EST on Monday.

The paying crew members are billionaire businessmen who spent $55 million apiece on the excursion -- Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Eytan Stibbe.

"Soon my journey will come full circle as I return to space, this time as the leader of #Ax1 -- the first fully private mission to the @Space_Station," López-Alegria posted on Twitter. "The mission is itself a symbolic blend of government and commercial achievements."

Elon Musk's SpaceX already hosted an all private-mission in orbit, the Inspiration4 flight in September, which was paid for by billionaire Jared Isaacman, founder of the Shift4 payments company.

Private astronauts have also flown to the space station before on Russian Soyuz rockets, but always with a trained cosmonaut.

But Ax-1 will be the first time an entirely commercial mission visits the space station, under the guidance of López-Alegria.

López-Alegría, a vice president with Axiom, flew to space four times over a 20-year career at NASA. He will become the first person to command both a civil and a commercial human spaceflight mission.

Connor, an Ohio real estate and financial technology entrepreneur, has flown fighter jets and will be the mission pilot, according to Axiom's mission description.

Connor previously said he plans to collaborate with the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic on medical research, while providing lessons to students at Dayton Early College Academy in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio.

Pathy, chief executive of Mavrik, a Montreal investment firm, plans to collaborate with the Canadian Space Agency and the Montreal Children's Hospital on health-related projects.

Eytan Stibbe plans to conduct experiments for Israeli researchers and entrepreneurs coordinated by the Ramon Foundation and the Israel Space Agency, along with educational outreach to Israeli students.

The Crew Dragon capsule for the mission is due to return after 10 days in space to a splashdown near Florida.

GOOD
Japan hosting U.S. nuclear weapons 'unacceptable,' PM Kishida says


Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday rejected the idea of entering a nuclear sharing arrangement with the United States. 

File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo


Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday rejected the idea of hosting nuclear weapons from the United States as a deterrent amid rising global tensions from the Ukraine crisis.

"It is unacceptable given our country's stance of maintaining the three non-nuclear principles," Kishida said at a session in Japan's parliament Monday, according to news agency Kyodo.

The three principles, which were adopted as a parliamentary resolution in 1971, state that Japan will not possess, not produce and not permit the introduction of nuclear weapons.

Japan remains under the extended deterrence of Washington's nuclear umbrella.

Kishida was responding to a suggestion by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Japan should start discussing a nuclear sharing agreement with the United States similar to arrangements among NATO countries.

"We should discuss various options, as far as how defending [Japan] and its people is concerned," Abe said Sunday on a TV program about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Asahi Shimbun reported.

Abe suggested that the fate of Ukraine may have been different if it hadn't given up its nuclear weapons in the 1990s.

"We should not regard a discussion on how the world's security is maintained as taboo," Abe said.

An estimated 100 U.S.-owned nuclear weapons are stored in five non-nuclear NATO member states -- Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey -- according to the nonprofit Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday ordered his country's deterrence forces, which include nuclear weapons, onto their highest state of alert, raising fears of a potential nuclear conflict.

Kishida, who is from Hiroshima, has long been an outspoken advocate for nuclear disarmament. As foreign minister, he helped arrange the 2016 visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Hiroshima, where some 140,000 people were killed when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945.

Documents declassified in 2016 confirmed that the United States stored nuclear weapons in Okinawa during the Cold War.

Famously neutral Switzerland imposes sanctions against Russia in rare intervention

Swiss Federal Councilor Viola Amherd announced sanctions against Russia on Monday as a punitive measure for invading Ukraine. It's a rare act of intervention by Switzerland, which is famously neutral in most world conflicts. File Photo by Alessandro Della Valle/EPA-EFE

Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Switzerland, a country that's well-known for remaining neutral during conflicts, said on Monday that it also will impose economic sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine.

The Swiss government called the Russian invasion a "serious violation of international law."

Although it's not a member of the European Union, Switzerland said that it's ordering the same sanctions against Moscow that have already been imposed by the EU.

"In view of Russia's continuing military intervention in Ukraine, the Federal Council took the decision on [Monday] to adopt the packages of sanctions imposed by the EU," the Swiss government said in a statement.

"The assets of the individuals and companies listed are frozen with immediate effect," it added. "The financial sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are also to be implemented with immediate effect."

Switzerland said it will close its airspace to Russia and ban imports, exports and investments connected with the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Last week, Putin declared those regions independent from Ukraine and then sent Russian troops into those areas. Just days later, he launched the invasion.

Switzerland has said that it will start delivering 25 tons of relief supplies Ukrainian refugees in Poland. The aid will include supplies and medicines from the Armed Forces Pharmacy.

The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell praised the Swiss government's move, saying that it will be troublesome for wealthy Russian influencers to have Swiss banks closed to them.

Scenes from the Russian war on Ukraine

Demonstrators hold signs and flags during a protest February 26 in Tel Aviv, Israel, in support of Ukraine after the Russian invasion and massive military operation. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo