New U.S. sanctions on Russia target Putin’s daughters and large Russian banks

On Wednesday, April 6, the United States placed sanctions on the adult daughters of Vladimir Putin and major Russian banks after the horrifying discovery in Bucha. These penalties are being enforced due to the belief that a sizable portion of Putin’s assets is concealed among his family members.

Rarely seen in public and mentioned by the Kremlin only by their first names, Putin’s daughters, Katerina Tikhonova and Mariya Putina, are in their thirties and live in Russia. Putin refuses to disclose their places of work and careers for multiple reasons, including “security issues.” The U.S. Treasury has learned that Tikhonova is a technology executive with a role supporting the Russian government, specifically its defense industry. Putina leads state-funded (Kremlin) genetics research, which is directly overseen by her father.

Per CBS, the United States will also sanction former president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, and the wife and daughter of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Another entity struck by these penalties includes major fiscal centers. Sberbank, the holder of a third of Russia’s banking assets, along with the nation’s fourth-largest financial institution, Alfabank, have been sanctioned for the first time. The only exemption will be energy transactions.

According to Reuters, these measures will halt any Sberbank and Alfabank assets from entering the American financial system. Britain has not only frozen Sberbank assets, but it will also ban imports of Russian coal by the end of 2022. This is part of a coordinated effort of the allies to “starve the Russian war machine.”

Later on Wednesday, United States President Joe Biden signed an executive order banning any new investments in Russia by Americans. This applies to residents living in the U.S. and abroad and includes activities such as mergers and venture capital. In a speech made the same day, Biden declared the events in Ukraine to be “nothing less than major war crimes” and promised to “ratchet up the pain for Putin.”