US sanctions Russian oligarchs and Putin's 'girlfriend' for involvement in Ukraine war

In the most recent wave of penalties related to the invasion of Ukraine, the United States blacklisted the alleged lover of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the businessman who owns the second-largest estate in London on Tuesday. Several other oligarchs thought to be connected to Putin, four Russian administrators of the occupied regions in Ukraine, and about two dozen high-tech institutions and businesses, including significant state-backed electronics firms, were also subject to US business prohibitions.

The Witanhurst estate, the second-largest estate in London after Buckingham Palace, is owned by billionaire Andrey Grigoryevich Guryev, a close friend of Vladimir Putin. The founder and former vice chairman of PhosAgro, a significant provider to the world's fertiliser markets, is Guryev. Financial penalties were imposed on him and his son, prohibiting them from doing business with US entities (including banks with U.S. branches) and freezing their assets under US jurisdiction.

Alina Kabaeva, a former Olympic gymnast who is frequently referred to as Putin's girlfriend, and Natalya Popova, the wife of Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the sizable sovereign wealth fund run by the Russian government, were both sanctioned by the Treasury. According to the Treasury, Popova works for Innopraktika, a technological company that is owned by one of Putin's daughters.

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Sanctions were also imposed on Viktor Filippovich Rashnikov, one of the biggest taxpayers in Russia, and two of his MMK companies, which is one of the biggest steel producers in the world. The State Department sanctioned oligarchs "running massive revenue-generating companies," including Dmitry Aleksandrovich Pumpyanskiy, Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, and Alexander Anatolevich Ponomarenko, in joint action. The penalties included visa restrictions. A list of over 900 Russian officials as well as 31 unnamed non-Russian officials who have supported Russia's occupation of Crimea and nearly 900 other individuals were also added, according to the State Department.

(with inputs from agencies)