President Joe Biden enacted sanctions on President Vladimir Putin’s alleged girlfriend Alina Kabaeva among others, according to CNN.
The U.S. Treasury Department made an announcement that it was sanctioning the rumored longtime girlfriend of the Russian president. The former Olympic rhythmic gymnast and former member of the state Duma (legislature) currently leads the Kremlin National Media Group.
However, rather than designate her as Putin’s “girlfriend,” the Treasury simply referred to her as in a “close relationship with him.”
The Russian rights advocate Alexey Navalny, whom Putin imprisoned, and other Kremlin critics have long called for sanctions against her. They indicated that her news organization was responsible for a disinformation campaign against America and the EU, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) sanctioned her earlier. It also limited her travel options. But  Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen just released a statement that read:
‘As innocent people suffer from Russia’s illegal war of aggression, Putin’s allies have enriched themselves and funded opulent lifestyles.’
The statement continued:
‘The Treasury Department will use every tool at our disposal to make sure that Russian elites and the Kremlin’s enablers are held accountable for their complicity in a war that has cost countless lives. Together with our allies, the United States will also continue to choke off revenue and equipment underpinning Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine.’
The consequences of the sanctions on Kabaeva mean that any properties she owns in America would be blocked against her. In addition, the Treasury:
‘[sanctioned] Russian billionaire Andrey Guryev, a former Kremlin official and founder of Russian chemical company PhosAgro, and his son.’
Since the UK had sanctioned Guryev earlier, it has meant that his Witanhurst estate in London, which could be valued at hundreds of millions of dollars would not be open to him or his son. But that is not all.
The Treasury noted that it discovered Guryev owned a $120 million yacht named Alfa Nero and docked in the Cayman Islands. So Yellen will likely seize it, too.
The U.S. will also sanction the Joint Stock Company Promising Industrial and Infrastructure Technologies, because it tried. to evade sanctions on the sanctioned Russian Direct Investment Fund.
Then, the State Department announced it would sanction Dmitry Pumpyanskiy, Andrey Melnichenko, and Alexander Ponomarenko all billionaires. In addition, it is sanctioning “893 Russian officials and 31 foreign government officials who supported the Russian annexation of Crimea.”  The sanctioning also included a number of corporations owned by the Russian electronics and technology industries.
This was not the first time President Biden sanctioned Russian billionaires, restricted their visas, and sanctioned Russian banking companies, all to influence the country to pull out of Ukraine.
With Russia losing over 15,000 soldiers during its attack on Ukraine, it is having trouble recruiting additional soldiers and mercenaries. Conversely, Ukraine is highly motivated to take back the areas Moscow seized in the current and earlier military actions. The SOFREP reported:
‘Despite recording significant casualties on the side of Ukraine, around 15,000 Russians have been killed in the five-month-long Russia-Ukraine confIn addition, approximately 45,000 have been injured, according to estimated figures provided by William Burns, the Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).’
President Biden has hit Putin exactly where it hurts.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
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