The White House announced sanctions this Wednesday against two adult daughters of Vladimir PutinMariya and Katerina, for the Russian invasion of Ukrainebecause he claims that relatives hide the wealth of the Russian president.
President Joe Biden linked the escalation of sanctions directly to evidence that has accumulated that Russian forces deliberately killed civilians in bushinga city on the outskirts of kyiv.
“I made it clear that Russia would pay a severe and immediate price for its atrocities in BuchaBiden tweeted.
A senior US official explained that Washington wants to create a “vicious circle” by piling up measures against Moscow.
“We deprive (Russia) of capital, we deprive it of technology, we deprive it of talent and the set of measures aims to create a spiral that accelerates as Putin keeps escalating” military, added the official who asked not to be identified.
In addition to preventing new investment in Russia, the United States will impose the harshest possible sanctions against the public bank Sberbank, which Washington says controls a third of Russia’s banking assets, and also against Alfa Bank, the country’s largest private bank.
That means that those entities, which had already received less harsh sanctions, will suffer the freezing of all their assets “in the US financial system” and will not be able to make any type of transaction with US entities or persons, according to the White House.
USA It also wants to sanction “large strategic public companies” but, for now, has not revealed the list.
Washington said the measures aim to make Russia a “pariah” in the world economy but would make exceptions in the energy sector, the main source of resources for the Russian treasury.
The White House, as always, said that the measures are coordinated especially with its European allies that are highly dependent on Russian gas.
Britain also tightened its sanctions against Moscow on Wednesday, punishing two banks and suspending imports of Russian gas until the end of the year.
Putin’s assets
The new sanctions also target two of Putin’s daughters, Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonovawhich are now subject to a US asset freeze and cut off from the US financial system.
The same treatment will be applied to the wife and daughter of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as well as members of Russia’s security council, including former President Dimitri Medvedev.
“These individuals enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people. Some of them are responsible for providing the necessary support to prop up Putin’s war against Ukraine,” the White House said in a statement.
“We believe that many of Putin’s assets are hidden in members of his family, and that is why we are targeting them,” a senior US official told reporters, referring to the two daughters.
Almost at the same time that it announced the sanctions, Washington announced the indictment of Russian billionaire Konstantin Malofeyev.
The oligarch is considered one of the main sources of financing for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Malofeyev is accused of “trying to circumvent sanctions” on Russia.
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