The European Union, the United States and the G7, the group of the seven most industrialized countries, announced this Wednesday new sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine. This time they include Russian financial institutions and individuals, and even the two adult daughters of President Vladimir Putin, one of whom usually lives in Switzerland. The move is aimed at increasing economic pressure on Russia and Putin himself after socializing the images of the massacre in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.
The group of those sanctioned has also included the wife and daughter of Putin’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, who has become one of the main spokesmen for Russian politics and its president.
“The United States stands with our allies and partners to ensure that the Russian government pays a heavy price for causing so much death and destruction in Ukraine, and in particular for the horrors in Bucha and elsewhere. In pursuit of this goal, today we are implementing full blocking sanctions on two Russian financial institutions: Sberbank, Russia’s largest financial institution, and its subsidiaries, and Alfa Bank, one of Russia’s largest private banks, and its subsidiaries. These entities continue to support President Putin’s aggression against Ukraine. Accordingly, all American persons are generally prohibited from transacting with Sberbank or Alfa Bank.” Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said.
In addition, “we are imposing sanctions on the adult daughters of President Vladimir Putin, Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova, as well as Maria Lavrova, the wife of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Ekaterina Lavrova, their adult daughter.”
“The United States is also appointing 21 members of Russia’s National Security Council, including former President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, for their role and authority in crafting the Kremlin’s brutal policies and resulting abuses,” the Secretary of State said.
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Finally, “President Biden’s Executive Order prohibits new investments in Russia, forcing Russia to go further down the path of financial and economic isolation,” he said.
Moscow has not reacted immediately to these new sanctions, which for the first time directly affect the Moscow nomenclature. But it is taken for granted that he will condemn them and promise reprisals.
In a short speech at the White House, President Joe Biden explained that the new sanctions package is a direct reaction to the massacre in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, on the outskirts of kyiv.
“Responsible nations have to come together to hold these perpetrators accountable,” Biden said. “We will continue to increase the economic cost and increase the pain for Putin and further increase Russia’s economic isolation,” the president stressed.
