The US Treasury Department has sanctioned the reputed girlfriend of Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a series of measures targeting Russian elites in the latest attempt by the Biden administration to punish the Kremlin for its war in course in Ukraine.
Alina Maratovna Kabaeva, who has been romantically linked to the Russian leader, was sanctioned “for being or having been a leader, official, senior executive or member of the board of directors of the Government of the Russian Federation,” a Treasury department. statement said.
That statement describes Kabaeva, 39, as having “a close relationship with Putin.” She is a former member of the State Duma “and is the current head of the National Media Group, a pro-Kremlin empire of television, radio and print organizations.”
Alina Maratovna Kabaeva, the reputed girlfriend of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and other Russian elites have been sanctioned by the US government. (AP)
In April, the Wall Street Journal reported that Kabaeva’s sanction was being considered by the United States, but there were concerns that the move would inflame tensions given her closeness to Putin.
Kabaeva was previously sanctioned by the European Union and the United Kingdom.
In addition to Kabaeva, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against a number of oligarchs, a major steel producer and two of its subsidiaries, as well as a financial institution accused of running a sanctions evasion operation and the its general manager.
Separately, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced sanctions against three oligarchs, a Russian state-owned company overseen by the Ministry of Transport, “four individuals and an entity operating illegitimately on the territory of Ukraine in coll ·collaboration with Russia” and 24 Russian defense and technology. -Related entities.
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The US is also imposing visa restrictions on 893 officials of the Russian Federation and “31 foreign government officials who have acted to support Russia’s alleged annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine and have therefore threatened or violated Ukraine’s sovereignty,” Blinken said.
Many of the designations announced by the US target oligarchs previously sanctioned by allies such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the European Union.
They arrive as the war in Ukraine has entered its sixth month.
Alina Maratovna Kabaeva, right, has been romantically linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is the current head of the national pro-Kremlin media group. (AP)
“As innocent people suffer from Russia’s illegal war of aggression, Putin’s allies have enriched themselves and funded lavish lifestyles,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.
“The Treasury Department will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that Russian elites and Kremlin enablers are held accountable for their complicity in a war that has cost countless lives.”
The oligarchs sanctioned by the State Department on Tuesday are Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, Alexander Anatolevich Ponomarenko and Dmitry Aleksandrovich Pumpyanskiy. The yacht AXIOMA was identified as blocked property in which Pumpyanskiy has an interest, the State Department said in a fact sheet.
According to this fact sheet, Ponomarenko “is an oligarch with close ties to other oligarchs and to the construction of Vladimir Putin’s maritime palace” who has previously been sanctioned by the UK, EU, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Among the oligarchs sanctioned by the Treasury Department on Tuesday is Andrey Grigoryevich Guryev, the Russian billionaire founder of the chemical company “PhosAgro” and a former government official described by the Treasury as “a known collaborator” of Putin.
Motor yacht A 118 meters long, belonging to the Russian oligarch Andrey Melnichenko, which is part of a new list of elites sanctioned by the Biden administration. (AP)
It is also sanctioned by the United Kingdom and, according to the US Treasury, “owns the Witanhurst estate, which is the second largest estate in London after Buckingham Palace.”
The Treasury Department on Tuesday identified the yacht Alfa Nero, owned by AG Guryev, as blocked property.
AG Guryev’s son Andrey Andreevich Guryev was also sanctioned by the US on Tuesday, after previously being sanctioned by Australia, Canada, the European Union, Switzerland and the UK, as was his investment company Dzhi AI Invest OOO.
Natalya Valeryevna Popova was sanctioned “for operating or having operated in the technological sector of the economy of the Russian Federation, and for being or having been a leader, officer, senior executive or member of the board of directors of LLC VEB Ventures”, which is a sanctioned entity. She was also sanctioned for being the wife of Kirill Aleksandrovich Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). Both he and the RDIF were sanctioned in the days following the start of the war.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Russian oligarchs had benefited while innocent people suffered during the war in Ukraine.
The Joint Stock Company Promising Industrial and Infrastructure Technologies, “a financial institution owned by the Russian Federal Agency for State Property Management”, and its CEO Anton Sergeevich Urusov were sanctioned on Tuesday in connection with alleged evasion of sanctions
According to the Treasury Department, “JSC PPIT attempted to facilitate the circumvention of sanctions imposed on the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).”
The Treasury Department sanctioned Publichnoe Aktsionernoe Obschestvo Magnitogorskiy Metallurgicheskiy Kombinat (MMK), described as “one of the largest steel producers in the world,” its board chairman Viktor Filippovich Rashnikov, who has also been sanctioned by Australia , Canada, the EU, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and two of MMK’s subsidiaries.
“MMK is one of Russia’s largest taxpayers and provides a substantial source of revenue to the Government of the Russian Federation,” the Treasury Department said. The agency has authorized a liquidation period for transactions with MMK and one of its subsidiaries.
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