EU adds Russian oligarchs and Kremlin spokesman to sanctions blacklist

Europe 1, with AFP 5:43 p.m., March 01, 2022

The European Union on Monday added Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman and several oligarchs to its blacklist of personalities sanctioned by an asset freeze and a travel ban because of their support for Moscow's war against Russia. Ukraine.

In addition to his spokesperson Dmitri Peskov, this list includes 26 names of close associates of Vladimir Putin: businessmen, senior army officers and half a dozen journalists.

The list was approved by member states and published in the Official Journal of the EU on Monday.

Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had already been registered there on Friday.

All sectors are concerned

The EU notably sanctioned on Monday Igor Setchine, the boss of the Rosneft group, one of the largest producers of crude oil in the world, and Nikolai Tokarev, CEO of Transneft, another heavyweight in the oil and gas sector.

Also targeted are Alisher Usmanov, a businessman close to the Russian president, bankers Petr Olegovich Aven and Mikhail Fridman, shareholder and founder of the Alpha Group conglomerate, as well as Peter Fradkov, chairman of Promsvyazbank.

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Businessmen Gennady Timchenko, billionaire co-founder of Gunvor, a commodity trading company, Alexei Mordashov, steel magnate, owner of the Severstal steel group, and cellist Sergei Pavlovich Roldougin are among those close to the President Putin sanctioned by the EU.

Several pro-Kremlin journalists and TV presenters are targeted, including writer Yevgeniy Prilepin and Olga Skabeyeva, host with her husband Yevgeniy Popov of "60 Minutes", the most popular political talk show in Russia.

An addition of 26 personalities to the list

The sanctions against the oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin were demanded by Alexei Navalny, the main Russian opponent imprisoned since the beginning of 2021 after nearly dying of poisoning in August 2020. A first list published a few hours before the launch of the invasion of Ukraine had sanctioned 23 personalities, including the Minister of Defense and Russian military leaders, the head of the Kremlin administration, the boss of Russia Today television and the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their involvement in the recognition of the regions Ukrainian separatists.

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Three banks, a company and 351 members of the Duma who had voted for Russia's recognition of the independence of the separatist territories in eastern Ukraine were also included on this list.

The completed list published on Monday adds 26 personalities and one entity, the gas industry insurance company Sogaz.

It is sanctioned for having ensured the construction of infrastructures "consolidating" the illegal annexation by Moscow of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

In Washington, the authorities have also promised new sanctions against Russian oligarchs.

"Symmetrical and complementary" lists with the EU and the United Kingdom

The American blacklist will not be identical to those of the EU and the United Kingdom, but they will be "

symmetrical and complementary", promised Monday the spokesman of the American diplomacy Ned Price in front of the press.

"We will identify, track down and freeze the assets of Russian corporations and oligarchs. We will track down their yachts. We will track down their villas and any ill-gotten gains we can find and seize within the law," he said. hammered.

He warned that the United States also intended to limit “its ability to send its children to boarding schools around the world”.