The United States has imposed a new set of sanctions on assets and individuals linked to Vladimir Putin, including the blocking of yachts linked to the Russian president and the goal of cellist and businessman Sergei Roldugin to be the “custodian” of his wealth. offshore.
The move comes as Washington seeks to increase financial pressure on Moscow as the war in Ukraine drags on until June, trying to increase damage to Putin’s close financial intermediaries who have operated around the world.
In addition, the United States is also imposing sanctions on a new group of Russian government officials and business leaders, including Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, and Alexei Mordashov, one of Russia’s richest billionaires.
“The world has seen the extraordinary courage of the people of Ukraine in the face of Russia’s brutality,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “The United States will continue to work with our partners and allies to impose serious costs on the government of the Russian Federation for its aggression against Ukraine and total disregard for human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
Brian Nelson, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said members of Russia’s elite, including Putin, “depend on complex support networks to hide, move and maintain their wealth and luxury assets “and that Thursday’s measure was intended to” go after those responsible for protecting and maintaining these illicit interests. ”
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The Treasury said it had identified the Russian-flagged yacht Graceful and the Cayman Islands-flagged Olympia as a “blocked property in which President Vladimir Putin has an interest,” and noted that Putin himself had traveled on these yachts, including on a 2021 trip to the Black Sea with Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus.
The Treasury also pointed to Imperial Yachts, a Monaco-based yacht brokerage that has an office in Moscow, saying it provided “yacht-related services to Russia’s elites, including those in President Putin’s inner circle.”
By imposing sanctions on Roldugin, the Treasury described him as a “close friend and part of a system that manages President Putin’s offshore wealth.” He added: “The two have known each other for more than four decades, and Roldugin is the godfather of one of Putin’s daughters. Roldugin is a cellist, conductor and artistic director of the House of Music. St. Petersburg, a state-owned cultural institution in Russia.
Imperial Yachts said on Thursday: “The accusations made by the US government and the press are false. We will seek all available legal remedies to resolve this matter expeditiously. Imperial Yachts conducts all its business in full compliance with the law. and regulations in all jurisdictions in which we operate. We are not involved in the financial affairs of our clients. “