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The U.S. Treasury has unveiled a list of names of Russian individuals including top aides to Russian President Vladimir Putin, cabinet members, and top businessmen who might face potential sanctions. The list names 43 individuals from the Presidential administration including Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, head of the Presidential Administration Anton Vaino, other senior officials. The list also names 31 cabinet ministers including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. The list also includes the names of 40 senior political leaders including Chairwoman of the Federal Council Valentina Matviyenko, Director of Foreign Intelligence Service Sergey Naryshkin. The list also names 96 Russian oligarchs with an individual net worth of more than $ billion including the heads of the biggest banks; Sberbank and VTB, chiefs of state gas company Gazprom and state oil company Rosneft, as well as the heads of major transport companies such as Russian Railways and Aeroflot, among others.
The document was produced as a part of a law signed by President Trump after it was almost unanimously approved by both chambers of Congress.
According to the statement from Treasury, the list was prepared based on senior foreign political figures and oligarchs in the Russian Federation as determined by the closeness to the regime and their net worth. The department also adds that it is not a sanction list, “It is not a sanctions list, and the inclusion of individuals or entities in this report, its appendices, or its annex does not and in no way should be interpreted to impose sanctions on those individuals or entities. Inclusion in this report also does not constitute the determination by any agency that any of those individuals or entities meet the criteria for designation under the sanctions program”.
The report has created quite a jitter in the Washington-Moscow relation, with some Russian Senator warning a complete breakdown of ties. Washington, on the other hand, has urged Moscow to react more calmly since it’s not a sanctions list.
