The US has announced sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters.
The latest move is partly in response to scenes in Bucha, near Kyiv, where more than 300 bodies have been discovered, including some civilians with their hands tied behind their backs.
The US believes many of the Russian president’s assets are hidden by family members.
Sanctions will also target foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s wife and daughter.
The penalties will cut off all of Mr Putin’s close family members from the US financial system and freeze any assets they hold in the US.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden is set to sign an executive order banning new investment in Russia.
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.
“These sweeping financial sanctions follow our action earlier this week to cut off Russia’s frozen funds in the United States to make debt payments. Importantly, these measures are designed to reinforce each other to generate intensifying impact over time.”
The White House said that if Mr Putin were to change course in Ukraine, US sanctions could potentially slow and possibly reverse.
The sweeping financial sanctions follow the West’s earlier action this week to cut off Russia’s frozen funds in the US to make debt payments.
The latest action will freeze any of Sberbank’s and Alfa Bank’s assets touching the US financial system and prohibit anyone from the States from doing business with them.
Sberbank holds nearly one-third of the overall Russian banking sector’s assets and is systemically critical to the Russian economy.
Alfa Bank is Russia’s largest privately-owned financial institution and Russia’s fourth-largest financial institution overall.
UK announces new sanctions against Russia
The UK has also announced a significant ratcheting up of UK sanctions on Russia today.
The UK’s fifth wave of measures will cut off key sectors of the Russian economy and end our dependency on Russian energy – as the EU has also banned imports of Russian coal and the US has sanctioned Sberbank.
Announcing the package, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “Today, we are stepping up our campaign to bring Putin’s appalling war to an end with some of our toughest sanctions yet.”
“Our latest wave of measures will bring an end to the UK’s imports of Russian energy and sanction yet more individuals and businesses, decimating Putin’s war machine.
“Together with our allies, we are showing the Russian elite that they cannot wash their hands of the atrocities committed on Putin’s orders. We will not rest until Ukraine prevails.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that new sanctions “must be commensurate with the gravity of the occupiers’ war crimes”.
“Now is a crucial moment, especially for Western leaders. And this is no longer about how our people will evaluate the new sanctions and what I will say about them,” he said.
The Biden administration added that “as long as Russia continues its brutal assault on Ukraine, we will stand unified with our allies and partners in imposing additional costs on Russia for its actions”.
Key sanctions announced today include:
- Asset freezes against Sberbank and Credit Bank of Moscow;
- An outright ban on all new outward investment to Russia. In 2020 UK investment in Russia was worth over £11bn;
- By the end of 2022, the UK will end all dependency on Russian coal and oil, and end imports of gas as soon as possible thereafter. From next week, the export of key oil refining equipment and catalysts will also be banned, degrading Russia’s ability to produce and export oil – targeting not only the industry’s finances but its capabilities as a whole;
- Action against key Russian strategic industries and state-owned enterprises – including a ban on imports of iron and steel products, a key source of revenue. Russia’s military ambitions are also being thwarted by new restrictions on its ability to acquire the UK’s world-renowned quantum and advanced material technologies.