The United States is preparing a sanctions package targeting more Russian oligarchs as well as their companies and assets, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, as Washington steps up pressure against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Last week Washington imposed several rounds of sanctions, including against Russian President Vladimir Putin and major banks, after Russia’s forces invaded Ukraine in the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two. Moscow calls the assault a “special operation.”
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The measures included sanctions against what the US Treasury Department said were Russian “elites,” including some with ties to Sberbank, VTB, Rosneft and the Federal Security Service (FSB).
The Washington Post, which first reported the United States was preparing to expand sanctions Russian oligarchs, said the list of people being readied by the White House and Treasury will overlap with some of those sanctioned by the European Union on Monday, including Alisher Usmanov, the owner of an iron and steel conglomerate.
The EU on Monday imposed sanctions on 26 prominent people over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including oligarchs and business people active in the oil, banking and finance sectors.
It also targeted government members, high-level military people, and “propagandists who contributed to spread anti-Ukrainian propaganda,” the EU said in a statement.
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, US President Joe Biden said the United States would work to seize the yachts, luxury apartments and private jets of wealthy Russians with ties to Putin.
“We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,” Biden said.
The United States and its allies last week announced they would launch a task force to identify and freeze the assets of sanctioned Russian companies and oligarchs.
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