A Russian oligarch, the family of the spokesman for the Kremlin, members of the Russian legislature and the entire board of Russia’s second largest bank are among those hit by the Treasury Department’s latest round of sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctions against more than two dozen individuals amount to an asset freeze and will mean that their U.S. property can’t interact with the rest of the economy. All sanctioned assets will also have to be reported to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC).
“Treasury continues to hold Russian officials to account for enabling Putin’s unjustified and unprovoked war,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
Janet YellenOvernight Health Care — House may vote on part of funds this week House panel presses DOJ, Treasury to review drugmakers' opioid settlement tax breaks Treasury slaps new sanctions on Russian elites MORE said in a statement. “Today’s actions also further isolate the severely damaged Russian economy by prohibiting trade in products that are key to the economic and financial interests of all Russian elites.”
Newly sanctioned properties include an Aruba-registered jet and a Cook Islands-registered yacht, both worth around $90 million, belonging to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselsberg, whose holdings total around $6 billion. Vekselberg’s financial interests, according to the Treasury, span multiple sectors of the Russian economy, and involve some of the most significant tech investments in Russia.
The board of Russia’s second largest bank, VTB Bank, were also individually sanctioned on Friday for doing business in the financial services sector of the Russian economy. VTB bank itself was sanctioned back in February.
Assets belonging to the family of Dmitriy Peskov, press secretary of Russian president Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich PutinInternational Criminal Court to issue ruling on allegations of genocide against Russia Overnight Defense & National Security — Presented by AM General — US worried China may help Russia Lawmaker pressure on Biden hits its limits MORE, have also been cordoned off from the U.S. economy.
Peskov’s wife “has a property empire worth more than $10 million,” Treasury said. “Her real estate includes property in an elite Moscow suburb where Putin also lives, another multimillion-dollar apartment in Moscow given to her by the [Government of Russia], and an apartment in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.”
Twelve members of the Russian legislature, or Duma, were likewise added to OFAC’s sanctions list for lobbying for the Russian recognition of separatist republics in the east of Ukraine, a move described by the Treasury as a pretext for the Russian invasion.
Friday’s sanctions are the latest in a series of economic measures against Russia that include an oil ban, a possible downgrading of trade relations, and a tax penalty initiative announced Friday by Senate Finance Committee chairman Ron Wyden
Ronald (Ron) Lee WydenThis week: Congress ramps up penalties against Russia over invasion On The Money — US suspending normal trade with Russia Treasury slaps new sanctions on Russian elites MORE (D-Ore.).
