Latest U.S. sanctions take aim at Putin’s inner circle
WASHINGTON — The United States punished dozens of Russian oligarchs and government officials on Friday with sanctions that took direct aim at President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
Seven Russian tycoons, including aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, were targeted, along with 17 officials and a dozen Russian companies, the Treasury Department said. Senior Trump administration officials cast it as part of a concerted, ongoing effort to push back on Putin, emphasizing that since President Donald Trump took office last year, the U.S. has punished 189 Russia-related people and entities with sanctions.
Rather than punishing Russia for one specific action, the new sanctions hit back at the Kremlin for its “ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern” of bad behavior, said the officials, who weren’t authorized to comment by name and briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
The officials ticked through a list of complaints about Russia’s actions beyond its borders, including its annexation of Crimea, backing of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, and cyber-hacking.
Above all else, Russia’s attempts to subvert Western democracy prompted the U.S. sanctions, officials said.
Deripaska, whose business conglomerate controls assets from agriculture to machinery, has been a prominent figure in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation over his ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The Treasury Department said Deripaska was accused of illegal wiretaps, extortion, racketeering, money laundering and even death threats against business rivals.
Putin’s government dismissed the sanctions as “absurdity,” arguing that the U.S. was punishing companies that have long-standing business ties to the U.S. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the U.S. was “striking at ordinary Americans” by jeopardizing “thousands of jobs.”
“American democracy is clearly degrading,” the ministry said. “Of course, we will not leave the current and any new anti-russian attack without a tough response.”