The US Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alleged girlfriend as part of a series of measures against Russian elites in the Biden administration’s latest bid to punish the Kremlin for its ongoing war in Ukraine.
Alina Maratovna Kabaeva, who was romantically linked to the Russian leader, received sanctions “for being or having been a leader, official, senior executive or member of the governing board of the government of the Russian Federation,” a Treasury Department statement said.
That statement describes Kabaeva, 39, as having “a close relationship with Putin”. She is a former member of the State Duma “and is the current head of the National Media Group, a pro-Kremlin empire of television, radio and press organizations.”
In April, the Wall Street Journal reported that sanctioning Kabaeva was being considered by the US, but there was concern that such a move could inflame tensions due to her closeness to Putin.
Kabaeva had already received sanctions from the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom.
In addition to Kabaeva, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against several other oligarchs, a major steel producer and two of its subsidiaries, as well as a financial institution accused of running a sanctions evasion operation and its director general.
Separately, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced sanctions on three oligarchs, a Russian state-owned company overseen by the Ministry of Transport, “four individuals and an entity operating illegitimately on the territory of Ukraine in collaboration with Russia” and 24 Russians of defense and technology. – related entities.
The US is also imposing visa restrictions on 893 officials from the Russian Federation and “31 officials from foreign governments who acted to support Russia’s alleged annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and thereby threatened or violated Ukraine’s sovereignty,” it said. blink.
Many of the designations announced by the US target oligarchs that have already had sanctions applied by allies such as the UK, Australia, Canada and the EU. They come as the war in Ukraine enters its sixth month.
opulent lifestyles
“While innocent people suffer from Russia’s illegal war of aggression, Putin’s allies have enriched and financed opulent lifestyles,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. “The Treasury Department will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that Russian elites and Kremlin enablers are held accountable for their complicity in a war that has cost countless lives.”
The oligarchs who were sanctioned by the State Department on Tuesday are Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, Alexander Anatolevich Ponomarenko and Dmitry Aleksandrovich Pumpyanskiy. The AXIOMA yacht has been identified as blocked property in which Pumpyanskiy has an interest, the State Department said in a newsletter.
According to that fact sheet, Ponomarenko “is an oligarch with close ties to other oligarchs and the construction of Vladimir Putin’s seaside palace,” who has already received sanctions from the UK, EU, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Among the oligarchs targeted by the Treasury Department on Tuesday is Andrey Grigoryevich Guryev, the Russian billionaire founder of the chemical company “PhosAgro” and a former government official described by the Treasury as “a known close associate” of Putin. He has also received sanctions from the UK and, according to the US Treasury, he “owns the Witanhurst estate, which is the second largest property in London after Buckingham Palace”.
The Treasury Department on Tuesday identified the yacht Alfa Nero, allegedly owned by AG Guryev, as blocked property.
AG Guryev’s son Andrey Andreevich Guryev also received US sanctions on Tuesday, after he was previously targeted by sanctions by Australia, Canada, the EU, Switzerland and the UK, as well as his investment firm Dzhi AI Invest OOO. .
Natalya Valeryevna Popova was sanctioned “for operating or having operated in the technology sector of the Russian Federation economy and for being or having been a leader, officer, senior executive director or member of the board of directors of LLC VEB Ventures”, which is a sanctioned entity .
She was also sanctioned for being the wife of Kirill Aleksandrovich Dmitriev, CEO of Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). Both he and the RDIF had sanctions applied in the days following the start of the war.
The Joint Stock Company Promising Industrial and Infrastructure Technologies, “a financial institution owned by the Russian Federal Agency for State Property Management”, and its director general Anton Sergeevich Urusov had sanctions imposed on Tuesday in relation to the alleged evasion of sanctions. .
According to the Treasury Department, “JSC PPIT attempted to facilitate the evasion of sanctions imposed on the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF)”.
The Treasury Department sanctioned Publichnoe Aktsionernoe Obschestvo Magnitogorskiy Metallurgicheskiy Kombinat (MMK), described as “one of the world’s largest steel producers”, the chairman of its board of directors Viktor Filippovich Rashnikov – who has also received sanctions by Australia, Canada, EU, Switzerland and the UK – and two MMK subsidiaries.
“MMK is one of Russia’s biggest contributors, providing a substantial source of revenue for the government of the Russian Federation,” the Treasury Department said. The agency authorized a settlement period for transactions with MMK and one of its subsidiaries.
Source: CNN Brasil

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