The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday announced the umpteenth package of sanctions against personalities and companies close to the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin, including oligarch Vladimir Potanin, in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
Along with Potanin, «one of the richest men in Russia», the Treasury has sanctioned forty other people, including Kremlin officials, such as the First Deputy Prime Minister, Andrei Belousov, and the Deputy Prime Ministers Dimitro Chernishenko, Sergei Franko, Oleg Belozherov and Oleksi Sazanov.
Also, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has blacklisted 18 other entities related to Russian financial services in an attempt to «isolate» Moscow from global markets, Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson has explained.
«Today’s designations by the United States, along with the actions taken by our international partners, will further inhibit the Putin regime’s ability to finance its horrific war against Ukraine,» he has stressed.
Washington is confident that these new restrictions will hit the Russian economy the remainder of this year and contract it further in 2023. «Beyond that, the loss of investment, export controls, and constraints on its economy will inhibit its growth prospects the next few years,» the Treasury Department has explained in a statement.
Among Potanin’s holdings that are subject to these new sanctions is Rosbank, a Russia-based commercial bank that the oligarch acquired earlier this year and which has already been targeted by British and Canadian authorities as «an overly important lending institution» for the Kremlin.
Also on the list are his company, Interros, as well as his wife Ekaterina Viktoronovna Potanina and their two children, Ivan Vladimirovich Potanin and Anastasia Vladimirovna Potanina. Also, the Biden Administration has blocked his yacht Nirvana, «valued at hundreds of millions of dollars».
