The U.S. rolled out a new wave of financial sanctions on Wednesday against Russia that President Joe Biden said would place a lasting penalty on the country’s economy.
The United Kingdom quickly followed suit, and more pain was coming from the European Union as the allies pressed forward with an escalating campaign to tighten the economic screws on Russian President Vladimir Putin for “war crimes” in Ukraine.
Making it personal, the U.S. sanctions singled out Putin’s family, targeting his two adult daughters in addition to blocking two key Russian banks. Putin has tried for years to keep his daughter’s identities secret, and officials said he used them to hide assets around the globe.
Biden said that “Russia has already failed in its initial war” after the country’s forces were turned back from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. He cautioned, however, that “this fight is far from over.”
“This war could continue for a long time,” but the United States will continue to stand with Ukraine and Ukrainians in the fight for freedom, Biden said. “We’re going to stifle Russia’s ability to grow for years to come.”
The latest sanctions underscore the financial pain that Russia faces, as evidence that its troops killed Ukrainian civilians has led to ever-harsher penalties by the U.S. and its Western allies that are eroding Putin’s ability to fight.
Granted, the rounds of increased sanctions have not forced Putin out of the war. In fact, no sanctions within living memory have ever had this effect. However, this year’s sanctions are especially severe, and so they may come closer to achieving the desired effect.
Already, the sanctions from the U.S. and its European allies have put Russia in increasingly desperate economic circumstances as Ukrainian forces withstand his barrages.
The steady intensifying in sanctions is less a sign of their shortcomings than the building pressure against Russia as it seeks foreign investment and basic goods, Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters at a Wednesday breakfast. “We need to have patience and perspective when it comes to the impacts on Russia of this unprecedented and crippling sanctions regime,” Deese said at the event sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor.
Key to the sanctions has been the unity between the U.S. and European nations. And the atrocities revealed in Ukraine have intensified pressure on Germany and other countries to go further and join the U.S. and Lithuania in blocking all Russian energy exports.
I made clear that Russia would pay a severe and immediate price for its atrocities in Bucha. Today, along with our Allies and partners, we’re announcing a new round of devastating sanctions. https://t.co/LVqTDIOSvz
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 6, 2022
In addition to sanctions aimed at Putin’s adult daughters, Mariya Putina and Katerina Tikhonova, the U.S. is targeting Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin; the wife and children of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov; and members of Russia’s Security Council, including Dmitry Medvedev, a former president and prime minister.
The penalties cut off all of Putin’s close family members from the U.S. financial system and freeze any assets they hold in the United States.
Like the U.S., Great Britain also singled out individual oligarchs during its sanction rollout. The country announced asset freezes targeting two Russian banks and designated eight Russian oligarchs whom it says Putin “uses to prop up his war economy.”
“Together with our allies, we are showing the Russian elite that they cannot wash their hands of the atrocities committed on Putin’s orders,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said.
Putin’s elder daughter, Maria Vorontsova, works as a physician in Russia. The U.S. Treasury Department justified the sanctions in a press release that she benefitted financially from state patronage.
“Vorontsova leads state-funded programs that have received billions of dollars from the Kremlin toward genetics research and are personally overseen by Putin,” the department announced Wednesday.
The younger daughter, Katerina Tikhonova, is a scientist, administrative professional, and former dancer. The U.S. Treasury called her “a tech executive whose work supports the GoR [federal government of Russia] and defense industry.”
Some reports, like a 2020 report in Russian outlet Proekt, have alleged that Putin has fathered other children out of wedlock. Putin has not publicly confirmed these reports.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.