The US has imposed new sanctions against Russian President, Vladimir Putin as well as his inner circle, including his daughters.

The list of targeted people also includes the family of Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and major banks.

The US said that Mr. Putin’s daughters, Katerina Vladimirovna Tikhonova and Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova, are being put under sanctions “for being the adult children of Putin, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked”.

Who are Putin’s daughters?

The announcement described Ms. Tikhonova as “a tech executive whose work supports the GoR [Government of Russia] and defence industry”. Her sister, Ms. Vorontsova, according to the US “leads state-funded programs that have received billions of dollars from the Kremlin toward genetics research and are personally overseen by Putin”.

Asked why the US is targeting Mr. Putin’s daughters, a Senior Biden Administration Official revealed that the US believes they can be in control of some of their (Putin’s daughters) father’s assets.

“We have reason to believe that Putin, and many of his cronies, and the oligarchs, hide their wealth, hide their assets, with family members that place their assets and their wealth in the US financial system, and also many other parts of the world.”
Senior Biden Administration Official

The US official also added that “We believe that many of Putin’s assets are hidden with family members, and that’s why we’re targeting them”.

Details of the Sanctions

The US sanctions, which were announced by the White House, include: economic measures to ban new investment in Russia; severe financial sanctions on Russia’s largest private bank, Alfa-Bank, and its largest financial institution, Sberbank; sanctions on critical major state-owned enterprises; as well as sanctions on Russian Government Officials and their family members.

Meanwhile, the UK has announced further sanctions against eight oligarchs and Russian banks, including the country’s largest, Sberbank, and Credit Bank of Moscow. The European Union within its ambit is also debating cutting off Russian Coal imports as concern over alleged war crimes increased.

Zelenskyy’s Concerns

Before the new raft of sanctions were announced in Washington on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, revealed that he could not “tolerate any indecisiveness”. Speaking to the Irish parliament on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, Mr. Zelenskyy averred there is still a need to convince some in Europe who believe “war and war crimes are not as horrific as financial losses” to back tougher sanctions.

The Ukrainian Leader also added that “Russian oil cannot feed the Russian military machine”, with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, arguing on Twitter that an embargo on gas and oil is needed to truly impact Russia’s ability to finance the war.

European Union’s Chief Diplomat, Josep Borrell, separately acknowledged on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, that the one billion Euros ($1.09bn; £833m) Europe spent on Russian energy every day put into sharp perspective the billion euros given to Ukraine in military assistance since the start of the invasion.

Putin calls Bucha Crisis ‘Crude and Cynical’

The new sanctions came as a result of the revelations of atrocities committed by Russian Forces in Ukraine, including images of bodies of civilians scattered on the streets of Bucha, near the country’s capital, Kyiv. But Russia said the images were staged by Kyiv officials.

Even though satellite images showed that the civilians were killed when Russians were in control of Bucha, Mr. Putin on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, described the event as a “crude and cynical provocation by the Kyiv regime”.