The United States on Thursday announced sanctions against eight Russian oligarchs and their relatives, including President Vladimir Putin’s alleged front man Alisher Usmanov and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The US State Department also banned 19 Russian oligarchs and their families from entering the US, while the Treasury blocked the potential assets under US jurisdiction of seven Russian organizations and 26 individuals promoting “disinformation” about the war in Ukraine. “We continue to impose very tough sanctions on Putin and those around him,” US President Joe Biden told reporters at the start of a cabinet meeting.
Usmanov, whom the EU considers Putin’s front man, is a metal tycoon and one of the richest men in Russia and the world, with a fortune currently estimated by Forbes at more than $14 billion. German authorities yesterday seized a yacht valued at nearly $600 million that was owned by Usmanov, while the US Treasury Department today banned the use in the US of that boat and a huge private plane of the tycoon, valued at $500 million.
Along with Usmanov and Peskov, Nikolay Tokarev, CEO of Transneft, a large Russian oil and gas company, also appears on the list, as well as two real estate companies he owns, as well as his wife and daughter. Another of those sanctioned is Sergey Chemezov, director of Rostec, controller of the largest Russian arms exporter (Rosoboronexport), along with his wife, son and stepdaughter. Another target is Yevgeny Prigozhin, nicknamed Putin’s “chef” because his companies often organize banquets in the Kremlin, and who was already subject to US sanctions, but which the Treasury redesignates to also include his three companies and his family.
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