US slaps sanctions on Putin’s oligarch allies

The United States struck at the heart of President Vladimir Putin’sinner circle yesterday, imposing sanctions on seven of Russia’s mostinfluential oligarchs and stoking a diplomatic crisis that some havedubbed a new Cold War.Those hit include metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, described as operatingfor the Russian government, as well as Alexei Miller, director ofstate-owned energy giant Gazprom.Any assets they hold in areas under US jurisdiction could now be frozen.Also on the list are tycoon Suleiman Kerimov, under investigation inFrance over allegations that he brought in millions of euros insuitcases full of cash, and Kirill Shamalov, a billionaire reported tobe Putin’s son-in-law.Russia’s state arms exporter, a key tool in Putin’s efforts to supportthe modernisation of his own military by selling advanced hardwarearound the world, was also added to the sanctions list.In all, President Donald Trump’s administration targeted sevenoligarchs, 12 companies that they own or control, 17 senior Russianofficials, and a state-owned arms export company.“The US is taking these actions in response to the totality of theRussian government’s ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern of malignactivity across the world,” one official said.“This included their occupation of Crimea, instigation of violence ineastern Ukraine, support for the Assad regime in Syria ... and ongoingmalicious cyber activity,” the senior official said. “But mostimportantly this is a response to Russia’s continued attacks to subvertwestern democracies.”Campaigners against Kremlin corruption welcomed the US move.Bill Browder, a US-born British financier whose lawyer Sergei Magnitskydied in a Russian jail after protesting alleged tax fraud, tweeted thatWashington was “finally hitting Putin and his cronies where it counts”.Russia analyst Boris Zilberman, of Washington think tank the Foundationfor Defence of Democracies, said the sanctions might finally givePutin’s allies pause as “until there is a change in the Kremlin’sbehaviour, their bottom lines will suffer and their ability to enjoy thespoils of their corruption will be hampered”.The measures were taken under a US law passed to punish Russia for itsalleged bid to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, engage incyber warfare and intervene in Ukraine and Syria.However, yesterday’s announcement also came as Washington and its alliesface a new diplomatic crisis with the Kremlin over the attemptedpoisoning of a former Russian double agent on British soil.Trump begrudgingly signed the Countering America’s Adversaries ThroughSanctions Act in August last year, despite arguing that it underminedhis own authority to lead US foreign policy.The president had long disputed the idea that Russia’s alleged cyberespionage and propaganda efforts sped him to victory in the election,seeking better relations with Putin.But Congress persisted, backed by evidence from US intelligenceagencies, and in March the administration finally imposed sanctions on19 Russian entities for “malicious cyber attacks”.In parallel, and to Trump’s fury, former Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) chief Robert Mueller has been empowered as a special prosecutorto investigate possible collusion between the president’s campaign andRussia.So far Mueller has indicted 19 people, including 13 Russians.US officials confirmed that their action against the oligarchs was inpart related to Russia’s alleged interference in the US vote, butstressed the broader nature of their concerns.“The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit ofoligarchs and government elites,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchinsaid. “Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt systemwill no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government’sdestabilising activities.”