The US Treasury Department sanctioned on Friday additional Kremlin “elites, leaders, oligarchs” and some of their family members for “enabling Putin’s war against Ukraine”, the department said in a statement, APA reports citing CNN.

Those sanctioned included three family members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Russian tycoon Viktor Vekselberg, and 10 members of the Management Board of the sanctioned VTB Bank. Also sanctioned were 12 members of the Russian State Duma, including Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, and the Chairman of Russia’s Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov.

Zyuganov’s sanctioning in particular garnered coverage in Russian state media in ensuing hours. He himself has since responded, calling it a “reward” and validation of his efforts to “create peace” and “struggle against Nazism”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was sanctioned on March 3 for being the “lead propagandist” of the Russian Federation. But on Friday, Peskov’s wife, Tatiana Navka, and two of Peskov’s adult children – Nikolay Peskov and Elizaveta Peskova – were also sanctioned. Tatiana Navka, who won a gold medal in ice dancing at the 2006 Olympics, has a ”property empire worth more than $10 million,” according to the Treasury Department statement.

Two of Vekselberg’s luxury assets, an Airbus A319-115 aircraft and a yacht named Tango, each valued at approximately $90 million each, were identified as blocked property, the statement said.

https://apa.az/en/america/us-sanctions-more-russian-elite-and-people-in-putins-inner-circle-370854