US sanctions liberal ex-Russian finance minister
The US Department of the Treasury has rolled out a new package of anti-Russia sanctions. The restrictions, announced on Thursday, target some 18 individuals and more than 120 entities, based both in Russia and Kyrgyzstan.
Aleksey Kudrin, the former Russian finance minister, is among the individuals designated for sanctions.
The new measures are aimed at inhibiting Russia’s “access to products that support its military and war efforts,” as well as reducing the country’s “revenue from the metals and mining sector” and “undermining its future energy capabilities,” the Treasury claimed.
Other goals include degrading “Russia’s access to the international financial system” and “starving” it of “G7-produced technology needed for its technology, aerospace, and defense sectors.”
“Today’s actions represent another step in our efforts to constrain Russia’s military capabilities, its access to battlefield supplies, and its economic bottom line,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.
Notably, the restrictions target Aleksey Kudrin, the liberal former Russian deputy PM and long-serving finance minister. Over the past few years, Kudrin led Russia’s Audit Chamber, stepping down from the post in late 2022, shortly after becoming an adviser on corporate development at Yandex.
Kudrin had been spared US-imposed sanctions for some time, unlike the vast majority of top former and serving Russian officials, as well as their close relatives.
Now, the ex-finance minister has been placed on the so-called ‘Specially Designated Nationals List’ of individuals, whose assets in the US are blocked – should they have any – while US nationals are “generally prohibited from dealing with them,” according to the US Treasury.
