Who are the Russian oligarchs affected by the US, UK and EU sanctions against Moscow?

After Vladimir Putin recognized the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and sent Russian armored vehicles to the Donbass, the West imposed sanctions on Moscow. Economic sanctions targeting Russian oligarchs, banks and assets abroad, close to the president’s circle. The goal is to hit the Russian economy, but at the same time being careful not to affect the energy market, as this will also be a recovery for the countries of the European Union, led by Italy and Germany.

The European Union, for its part, has “ratified” the country’s debt: Moscow will be cut off from the European market, which is no longer a supplier of its government bonds. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, explained thatPreventing the Russian state and the Russian government from accessing European financial markets, thereby limiting the financing of the country’s economic policies“.

Joe Biden also announced sanctions from the United States to isolate Moscow: “We are imposing wide-ranging sanctions on Russia’s sovereign debt. This means that we are cutting off the Russian government from Western funding“, He explainednoting that the country’s elites, who are close to the Russian president, will also be affected.

From London, Boris Johnson mentioned that there are five British banks targeted Russians who were financing pro-Russian rebels in Donbass and supporting the separatist occupation of eastern Ukraine. But Veb and the military bank Promsvyazbank, two of the country’s largest financial institutions, will also be in the eyes of the West. The first, with assets of about $ 50 million, is a large state corporation, while beating the second means hitting such personalities as Dmitry and Alexei Ananiev, the former owners of the enterprise and very close to the Kremlin.

Then the UK issued sanctions against three Russian oligarchsand Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko, Boris and Igor Rotenberg. The first of the richest men in Russia is considered the owner of the Volga Group, a holding company that is also active in the energy sector: he was already hit by sanctions in 2014, after the annexation of Crimea. The Rothenberg family, very close to Putin, is associated with the energy and transportation sectors. According to London, they are Putin’s collaborators and would have financed Moscow’s policy toward Ukraine. Boris Rotenberg was also hit by sanctions in 2014. His nephew Igor controls Gazprom.