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Putin’s daughters, Russian banks sanctioned by US over ‘war crimes' in Ukraine
The sanction also includes banning any American from investing in Russia, including through venture capital or mergers.
The United States on Wednesday targeted Russian banks and elites, including President Vladimir Putin's adult daughters Mariya Putina and Katerina Tikhonova, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov's wife and daughter, and members of Russia's security council, with a new package of sanctions after Washington and Kyiv accused Moscow of committing war crimes in Ukraine.
The sanction also includes banning any American from investing in Russia, including through venture capital or mergers.
The new sanctions will put full blocking sanctions in Russia's Sberbank, which holds one-third of Russia's total banking assets, and Alfabank, a senior US official told reporters. Energy transactions are blocked from these sanctions, the official said.
The US believes Putin and his allies hide wealth with family members, the official said in a briefing for reporters, on condition of anonymity, according to Bloomberg.
Other state-owned enterprises that will be subject to full-blocking sanctions include United Aircraft Corporation and United Shipbuilding Corporation, director of Biden’s National Economic Council Brian Deese said.
“Most of these large state-owned enterprises operate in very close connection to the Russian government. And we will be applying full blocking sanctions as well,” Deese told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.
Full blocking sanctions on state-owned enterprises will be announced by the Treasury Department on Thursday, but do not include the energy sector, the official said.
The announcements follow the emergence of photos and reports of dead civilians in Bucha and other areas near Kyiv that fueled global outrage against Russia. Biden described the apparent killings as war crimes and said Putin could face a trial. Moscow has denied that its armed forces committed atrocities in Ukraine.
Earlier this week, the US Treasury Department took aim at Russia’s effort to avoid a default on its sovereign debt by halting dollar debt payments from the nation’s accounts at US banks.
The European Commission on Tuesday proposed new sanctions on Russia, including the coal ban, new penalties on oligarchs and other elites and their families, export controls and blocking access to Russian shipping carriers. The proposals also include sanctions on Putin’s daughters.
The announcements come as Secretary of State Antony Blinken in is Europe for meetings with NATO allies to coordinate the latest punishments for Russia.
(With inputs from agencies)
