US targets Putin's daughters, Russian banks in new sanctions
The Hindu
The moves against Sberbank and Alfa Bank prohibit assets from touching the US financial system and bar Americans from doing business with those institutions
The United States on Wednesday announced sanctions targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin's two adult daughters and said it was toughening penalties against Russian banks in retaliation for “war crimes” in Ukraine.
The moves against Sberbank and Alfa Bank prohibit assets from touching the US financial system and bar Americans from doing business with those institutions.
In addition to sanctions aimed at Mr Putin's adult daughters, Mariya Putina and Katerina Tikhonova, the US is targeting Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin; the wife and children of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov; and members of Russia's Security Council, including Dmitry Medvedev, a former president and prime minister.
The penalties cut of all of Mr Putin's close family members off from the US financial system and freeze any assets they hold in the United States.
The Biden administration has also charged a Russian oligarch with violating the US government sanctions and has disrupted a cybercrime operation controlled by a Russian military intelligence agency, officials said Wednesday.
The actions, announced amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, underscore what US officials say are their efforts to crack down on Russian criminal activity, to choke off the flow of “dirty money” and to disrupt the Kremlin’s malicious cyber acts.
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