As tensions between Ukraine and Russia escalate following the ouster of the Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych, a number of Western countries have started to impose sanctions on Russian individuals.

Accusing Russia of destabilizing the political landscape in Ukraine, the U.S., EU, U.K. along with Japan, Canada and Switzerland targeted Russian and Ukrainian individuals and corporations.

Overall, nearly 150 names have been targeted as separate countries, led by their own interests, did not punish the same people.

Click ahead for some of the most high-profile individuals hit by the measures.

By CNBC's Alice Tidey.

One of the first seven individuals sanctioned by the U.S. on March 17, Sergey Glazyev is a presidential adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

However, his relationship with the president was not always rosy. Glazyev was once a member of one of the first opposition party in the country. In 2007, he announced his retirement from politics saying that elections were controlled by the president's staff and were therefore useless in influencing the state's policy. Since then, Glazyev has been a member of the Russian Academy of Science as well as the executive secretary of the Eurasian Economic Community customs union – an economic union of former Soviet States.

The ousted Ukrainian president was also one of the first to be sanctioned by the U.S. for threatening the peace, stability, sovereignty, or territorial integrity of Ukraine as well as undermining Ukraine's democratic institutions. Furthermore, the U.S says the former president called upon Russia to send troops into Ukraine.

After his ouster from power, Yanukovych fled to Russia. The Ukrainian authorities have issued a warrant for his arrest on mass murder grounds and have asked Russia to extradite him. Both his sons have also been sanctioned.

The 29-year old self-made billionaire is a media mogul, soccer club owner and the founder of "Gas Ukraine 2009", a group of companies that controls nearly a quarter of the liquefied gas market in Ukraine.

In late March, a Ukrainian prosecutor issued a warrant for his arrest stating that Kurchencko is suspected of stealing assets from a state enterprise.

Since his EU asset freeze in February, his whereabouts have been unknown.

Currently CEO of Rosneft – an oil company majority-owned by Russia – Sechin was sanctioned by the U.S. for being a member of Vladimir Putin's "inner circle."

Like the president, Sechin is a former Soviet intelligence officer and he is one of Putin's long-standing allies, having also been his deputy chief of staff. According to Forbes, who ranked him 60th on its list of Most Powerful People, he's even been called "Putin's Shadow."

Sanctioned by the U.S. for his role as presidential aide to Vladimir Putin, Vladilav Surkov brushed off the sanctions, saying that the only thing he liked about America is Tupac and that he doesn't need a visa to listen to rap music.

A businessman and politician, he has occupied several positions in the administration, and is credited with creating Russia's modern political system. Since September 2013, his role has been to advise the president on foreign policy pertaining to the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Russia recognized as independent following its conflict with Georgia in 2008.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin is Putin's special envoy and also heads the Russian Military-Industry Commission and the Russian team of the Russian-Syrian Intergovernmental Commission.

Prior to taking on these roles, he was also the Russian envoy to NATO and vetoed Ukraine and Georgia's entry to the Membership Action plan, back in 2008, saying that other NATO countries "will not invite these bankrupt scandalous regimes to join NATO…more so as important partnerships with Russia are at stake."

A powerful businessman, Chemezov is CEO of Rostec – a state-owned corporation created to further the development, manufacture and export of high-tech products – but he also sits on the board of about a dozen other Russian companies, including Rosneft.

Chemezov is also a politician, occupying the position of Supreme Council for the ruling United Russia party. In the late 1990s, he worked in the administration as head of foreign economic relations.

Worth $14.4 billion, according to Forbes, Timchenko is a long-time friend to Vladimir Putin and the owner of the Volga Group, a privately-held investment firm that holds interests in a variety of assets, mainly in energy, transportation and infrastructure development.

Currently Russia's sixth richest man, Timchenko sold his 43 percent stake in commodity trading company Gunvor to his business partner the day before the U.S. imposed sanctions on him.

Finno-Russian brothers, Arkady and Boris Rotenberg were both hit by sanctions.

Together, they own SMP Bank as well as one of Russia's biggest construction contractors in the energy field, SGM, which they built by acquiring subsidiaries of Gazprom from 2008.

They're also keen sports fans, a passion that helped forge their friendship with the president as the three of them were judo sparring partners in their youth.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and billionaire Arkady Rotenberg (R) attend the funeral of his former judo trainer Anatoly Rakhlin on August 9, 2013 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.