Why US, EU targeted Putin’s daughters Mariya, Katerina in new sanctions?
The penalties cut off all of Putin’s close family members from the US financial system and freeze any assets they hold in the United States.
Amid mounting global accusations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, the United States on Wednesday announced a new set of sanctions targeting President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters Mariya Putina (Vorontsova) and Katerina Tikhonova, and said it was toughening penalties against Russian banks. The United Kingdom piled on asset freezes against two major banks, a ban on British investment in Russia and a pledge to end dependency on Russian coal and oil by yearend.
The European Union was also expected to soon take additional steps, including a ban on new investment in Russia and an embargo on coal, after the recent evidence of atrocities emerging in the wake of the retreat by Russian forces from the town of Bucha.
The penalties cut off all of Putin’s close family members from the US financial system and freeze any assets they hold in the United States.
President Joe Biden said the latest round of sanctions would be “devastating.” “I made clear that Russia would pay a severe and immediate price for its atrocities in Bucha,” Biden said in a tweet.
Who are Mariya Putina and Katerina Tikhonova?
Mariya Vorontsova and Katerina (or Ekaterina) Tikhonova are in their mid-30s.
According to the European Commission list of proposed individuals and entities to sanction, Vorontsova, Putin’s eldest daughter, was included because she was co-owner of Nomenko, a company “involved in Russia’s largest private investment project in healthcare”.
She was thus deemed to benefit from the Russian government and was involved in a sector providing its revenue.
She is reportedly married to a Dutch businessman.
The commission list had her sister Tikhonova included because “she currently heads the Innopraktika development initiative, funded by key Russian companies whose directors are members of the inner circle of oligarchs close to President Putin”.
She was also, therefore, seen to benefit from the Kremlin and be involved in providing it revenue.
According to The Guardian, Vorontsova is reported to be a specialist in rare diseases in children.
Tikhonova, an academic who for years competed in acrobatic rock’n’roll dance contests, was appointed in 2020 to run an artificial intelligence institute at Moscow State University.
