New sanctions issued Wednesday by the Biden administration target Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two daughters, who are believed to be hiding some of the strongman’s vast wealth.
The Guardian provides context:
Vorontsova, Putin’s eldest daughter, is reported to be a specialist in rare diseases in children. Tikhonova, an academic who for years competed in acrobatic rock-and-roll dance contests, was appointed in 2020 to run an artificial intelligence institute at Moscow State University, according to reports at the time.
The wife and daughter of Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, were also among those sanctioned by the U.S. on Wednesday.
“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 have placed their assets and their wealth in the US financial system, but also many other parts of the world,” a U.S. official told CNN, adding “That’s why the coordination, the coordinated efforts to freeze their assets and seize their physical luxury goods — their cars, their yachts, their homes, etc. — that’s why it’s so important that we act together.”
The European Union is also preparing to sanction Putin’s daughters, according to Bloomberg.
In addition, the sanctions announced Wednesday by the U.S. ratchet up economic pressure on two Russian financial institutions, Sberbank and Alfa Bank.
Axios reports:
A senior [Biden] administration official told reporters that the steps were necessitated by the “sickening brutality in Bucha,” a Kyiv suburb where the bodies of dozens of civilians were discovered after Russian troops pulled out. The official said the sanctions over Russia’s invasion would push the country back to Soviet-era living standards.
“The U.S. official said each new round of sanctions is designed to create a downward spiral that accelerates the more that Putin escalates,'” Axios adds.
The official told Axios that “international sanctions are projected to wipe out 15 years of economic growth and push Russia’s economy from 11th-largest in the world to outside the top 20,” and “Russians will be forced to buy knock-off products and clothes, and return to “Soviet-level” living standards.”
On Tuesday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that sanctions may take a while to impact Putin’s decision-making.
“We don’t expect that that shift in behavior will be caused by sanctions overnight or in a week,” Sullivan said. “It will take time to grind down the elements of Russian power within the Russian economy, to hit their industrial base hard, to hit the sources of revenue that have propped up this war and propped up the kleptocracy in Russia.”
