More sanctions put on Russia’s rich

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration imposed new sanctions on seven of Russia’s richest men and 17 top government officials Friday in the latest effort to punish President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle for interference in the 2016 election and other Russian aggressions.

The sanctions are designed to penalize some of Russia’s richest industrialists, who are seen in the West as enriching themselves from Putin’s increasingly authoritarian administration.

The action freezes the oligarchs’ assets and prevents any U.S. entities or individuals from doing business with them or their business operations. It also restricts foreign individuals from facilitating transactions on their behalf.

The sanctions grow out of an oddly disjointed policy toward Russia on the part of the Trump administration: While President Donald Trump continues to call for good relations with Putin, Congress and much of the rest of the administration are pushing through increasingly punitive efforts that are sinking relations with Moscow to lows not seen in years.

‘‘The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites,’’ Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. ‘‘Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government’s destabilizing activities.’’

Among those sanctioned is Oleg Deripaska, an oligarch who once had close ties to Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

Also sanctioned were Suleiman Kerimov, a financier close to Putin; Vladimir Bogdanov, a top executive of Surgutneftegaz, a Russian oil company; Igor Rotenberg, another oil executive; Kirill Shamalov, an energy executive who married Putin’s daughter, Katerina Tikhonova; Andrei Skoch, a deputy of the Russian Federation’s State Duma; and Viktor Vekselberg, chairman of the Renova Group, a Russian investment firm.

The sanctions were not imposed solely because of the recent poisoning in England but rather ‘‘in response to the totality of the Russian government’s ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern of malign activity around the world,’’ a senior administration official said in a conference call with reporters, adding: ‘‘But most importantly this is in response to Russia’s continuing attack to subvert Western democracies.’’

The sanctions come just as investigators working for Robert Mueller, the special counsel looking into the possibility of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, have begun to question Russian oligarchs about possible financial links between those in Putin’s orbit and people close to Trump.