Sanctions threaten Putin`s entourage

The US Treasury has published a document called the ‘Kremlin report’ in response to Russia’s interference in the presidential election in 2016. The report contains the names of 210 people from Vladimir Putin’s entourage – 114 civil servants and 96 businessmen.

The report is not a final list of individuals who have had sanctions imposed on them. The Ministry of Finance submitted the document to Congress which will hold several hearings on the report. Thereafter they will decide who will be affected by what sanctions.

The report describes how close specific people are to Vladimir Putin, their involvement in corruption in Russia and the sources of their income. Also, the possible consequences of imposing sanctions against each of these individuals are also indicated.

The report mentions (among others) Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, heads of both houses of the Russian parliament Vyacheslav Volodin and Valentina Matvienko, Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, the head of the presidential administration Anton Vaino, prominent businessmen Alex Usmanov, Roman Abramovich, Suleiman Kerimov, and Igor Sechin and Alexei Miller who lead the largest state-owned companies in Russia – Rosneft and Gazprom.

According to CNN there is a second part to the list which has not been published as yet. Whether it includes other people not mentioned in the first part of the document or additional information about the officials and businessmen already mentioned is still unknown.

What sanctions the US will introduce after Congress’ approval is also not yet clear. Experts interviewed by CNN believe that it may include restrictions for conducting business with American banks.