President Joe Biden imposed new sanctions Thursday on eight members of the Russian elite, along with members of their families, as he warned Russia is intensifying its bloody invasion of Ukraine with indiscriminate bombing.
The new sanctions are the Biden administration's latest attempt to squeeze Russian President Vladimir Putin as the invasion of Ukraine advances.
"The goal is to maximize the impact on Putin and Russia," Biden said, accusing the oligarchs he is targeting of lining "their pockets with Russian people's money while Ukraine and the people are hiding in the subway from missiles that are being fired indiscriminately."
. "Our interest is to maintain the strongest unified economic campaign on Putin in all history, and I think we're really on the way to doing that," Biden said.
The new list of individuals described as "Putin's cronies and their family members" will be cut off from the US financial system, their assets in the US will be frozen and their property will be blocked from use, according to a fact sheet from the White House.
There will be full blocking sanctions on eight Russian elites, plus their family members and associates.
It includes a move to target Putin ally Alisher Burhanovich Usmanov, "one of Russia's wealthiest individuals," according to the White House, and will include his super-yacht and private jet.
The US is also sanctioning Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, whom the White House describes as "a top purveyor of Putin's propaganda."
"The United States and governments all over the world will work to identify and freeze the assets Russian elites and their family members hold in our respective jurisdictions -- their yachts, luxury apartments, money, and other ill-gotten gains," the fact sheet said.
According to the White House, the individuals who will be subject to full blocking sanctions are:
Nikolai Tokarev (along with his wife Galina, daughter Mayya and two luxury real estate companies)
Boris Rotenberg (along with wife Karina, and sons Roman and Boris)
Arkady Rotenberg (along with sons Pavel and Igor and daughter Liliya)
Sergei Chemezov (along with wife Yekaterina, son Stanislav and stepdaughter Anastasiya)
Igor Shuvalov (along with five companies, wife Olga, son Evgeny, his company and jet, daughter Maria and her company)
Yevgeniy Prigozhin (along with his three companies, wife, Polina, daughter Lyubov, and son Pavel), Peskov Putin's press secretary Alisher Usmanov.
The US will also impose visa restrictions on 19 oligarchs and 47 of their family members and close associates, the fact sheet from the White House said.
That will target oligarchs "known to direct, authorize, fund, significantly support, or carry out malign activities in support of Russia's destabilizing foreign policy."
And the Department of Treasury will also issue sanctions on disinformation targets. That includes SDN Strategic Culture Foundation and associated outlets Odna Rodyna, Rhythm of Eurasia, and Journal Kamerton; SouthFront; SDN InfoRos; New Eastern Outlook; Oriental Review; United World International; and Geopolitical.
It will also designate "26 Russia and Ukraine-based individuals who play central roles in these organizations, enabling the Government of the Russian Federation's efforts to spread disinformation and influence perceptions as a part of their invasion of Ukraine."
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