Members of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, including his daughters, have been hit with sanctions from the United States.
Additionally, the list includes members of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s family and big banks.
The steps come in the wake of new discoveries about Russian troops’ atrocities in Ukraine, including photographs of civilian remains scattered on the streets of Bucha, near the capital, Kyiv.
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Russia asserts, without providing evidence, that the photographs were staged by Ukrainian officials.
Despite the fact that satellite photographs reveal people were killed during Russia’s control of Bucha, Mr Putin condemned the incident on Wednesday as a
“crude and cynical provocation by the Kyiv regime“.
US President Joe Biden stated on Wednesday, in reference to the Bucha murders, “There’s nothing less happening than major war crimes.”
“Responsible nations have to come together to hold these perpetrators accountable,” Mr Biden concluded.
The US announced sanctions against Mr Putin’s daughters, Katerina Vladimirovna Tikhonova and Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova, “for being the adult children of Putin, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked“
What are the names of Putin’s daughters?
What sanctions have been levied against Russia?
Ms Tikhonova was identified in the statement as “a tech executive whose work supports the Russian government and defence industry“
Ms Vorontsova’s sister, the article continued, “leads state-funded programmes that have received billions of dollars from the Kremlin toward genetics research and are personally overseen by Putin“
When asked why the US was pursuing Mr Putin’s daughters, a senior Biden administration official stated that the US believed they might control some of their father’s assets.
“We have reason to believe that Putin, and many of his cronies, and the oligarchs, hide their wealth and their assets with family members that place their assets and their wealth in the US financial system, and also many other parts of the world,” the person added.
“We believe that many of Putin’s assets are hidden with family members, and that’s why we’re targeting them.”
The White House announced the following US sanctions:
Economic sanctions are aimed at preventing fresh investment in Russia.
Russia’s biggest private bank, Alfa Bank, and the country’s biggest financial institution, Sberbank, are both going to be fined a lot of money.
Sanctions against significant state-owned enterprises:
Sanctions against members of the Russian government and their families.
The UK also added penalties to eight more Russian oligarchs and banks, including the country’s largest, Sberbank, and Moscow’s Credit Bank.
As public outrage grows over possible war crimes, the European Union may also stop buying coal from Russia.
Prior to the announcement of the next round of sanctions in Washington, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that he could not “tolerate any indecisiveness“
On Wednesday, he told the Irish parliament that there was still work to be done convincing some in Europe who believe “war and war crimes are not as horrific as financial losses” to support stiffer sanctions.
He said that “Russian oil cannot feed the Russian military machine” with Ukraine’s foreign minister arguing on Twitter that a gas and oil embargo was necessary to have a meaningful impact on Russia’s ability to finance the conflict.
Some countries in Europe, like Germany, rely a lot on energy from Russia and have been wary of confronting the industry directly.
Nevertheless, the European Commission proposed on Tuesday a possible ban on Russian coal imports, which would require approval by all 27 members. Each year, Europe buys about €4 billion ($4.4 billion; £3.3 billion) worth of coal from Moscow, which comes from the United States.
The revelation of Russian war crimes seemed to change people’s minds. This week, French President Emmanuel Macron joined calls for a ban on coal, which he did.
There were talks about an embargo before the US and other G7 countries announced a lot of penalties together.
European member states are also set to impose a “full transaction ban” on four Russian banks and a range of other Russian and Belarusian goods worth €5.5 billion ($6 billion; £4.59 billion), including wood, cement, seafood, and liquor.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
