Vladimir Putin’s daughters have been sanctioned by the US in response to allegations of war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, The White House has confirmed.
Katerina Tikhonova, 35, and Mariya Vorontsova, 36, have now been targeted for the next tranche of sanctions, a senior Biden administration official said.
Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s wife and daughter will also be targeted by the sanctions from the US.
US President Joe Biden said the sanctions were a direct response to the killings of civilians in Bucha.
I made clear that Russia would pay a severe and immediate price for its atrocities in Bucha. Today, along with our Allies and partners, we’re announcing a new round of devastating sanctions. https://t.co/LVqTDIOSvz
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 6, 2022
He tweeted: “I made clear that Russia would pay a severe and immediate price for its atrocities in Bucha. Today, along with our Allies and partners, we’re announcing a new round of devastating sanctions.”
Sanctions have been targeting politicians, oligarchs and other figures within the Russian president’s circle.
The US and the UK have hit Russia’s largest bank Sberbank with sanctions.
In a statement, the White House said: “The United States, with the G7 and the European Union, will continue to impose severe and immediate economic costs on the Putin regime for its atrocities in Ukraine, including in Bucha.
“We will document and share information on these atrocities and use all appropriate mechanisms to hold accountable those responsible.
“As one part of this effort, the United States is announcing devastating economic measures to ban new investment in Russia, and impose the most severe financial sanctions on Russia’s largest bank and several of its most critical state-owned enterprises and on Russian government officials and their family members.”
Also, Putin’s daughters are expected to be subject to EU asset freezes and travel bans this week after Mr Putin’s forces provoked global outrage after evidence of the massacre of citizens in Bucha.
Ambassadors from the bloc will sign off the proposals on Wednesday.
Ms Vorontsova runs a healthcare investment project while Ms Tikhonova is head of an artificial intelligence institute at Moscow State University. It is unclear whether either have assets outside of Russia.
Earlier this week, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Russia’s atrocities in Bucha “cannot and will not be left unanswered”.
Other proposed EU sanctions would ban buying Russian coal, prevent Russian ships from entering EU ports and suspend nearly €20 billion worth of trade.
The bloc has been divided on imposing curbs on Russian energy as it obtains about a third of its natural gas from the country, but Ms von der Leyen stressed that Europe must seek alternative energy sources.
She said sanctions against four key Russian banks, including the second-largest, VTB, would see them “totally cut off from the market”.
Further sanctions will cover quantum computers and transportation equipment to “degrade Russia’s technological base and industrial capacity”, she added.
Germany has ruled out an immediate embargo on gas – meaning an EU-wide decision cannot be approved unanimously.
It follows an impassioned address by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to the United Nations Security Council in which he called for fresh sanctions in response to reports of Russian war crimes.
