(NewsNation) — The U.S. and Western allies announced a new wave of economic sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, targeting Russian financial institutions and even President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters.
The new sanctions take aim at two of Russia’s largest banks, Sberbank and Alfa Bank, freezing any assets touching the U.S. financial system and blocking Americans from doing business with them.
The new restrictions come in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s plea for additional support after images of civilians massacred on the streets of Kyiv suburb Bucha circulated around the world.
“Together with our allies and our partners, we’re going to keep raising the economic cost and ratchet up the pain for Putin and further increase Russia’s economic isolation,” President Joe Biden said.
The U.S. Treasury Department will also announce more sanctions against Russian state-owned companies and Biden intends to sign an executive order blocking new investment in the Russian Federation entirely, according to the White House.
The administration went a step further and added more “Russian elites” to the list of those banned from the U.S. financial system, including Putin’s two adult daughters, Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova.
The sanctions against Putin’s daughters are mostly symbolic; very little is known about them.
Tikhonova is believed to work in artificial intelligence, while her older sister Vorontsova is said to work in medical research.
“My daughters live in Russia and studied only in Russia. I am proud of them,” Putin said at a news conference six years ago. “I never discuss my family with anyone.”
But the White House says Putin’s daughters are part of a group of Russian elites that “have enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people.”
Vorontsova and Tikhonova join a growing list of Russia’s super-wealthy who have been cut off from the United States and the European Union as Western allies continue to hunt for megayachts and other ill-gotten gains.
Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich could be next to lose his prized yacht. It’s been on the move near Montenegro but is yet to be seized.
