The two daughters of Vladimir Putin could be targeted by new EU sanctions currently being examined by representatives of the Twenty-Seven, AFP learned on Wednesday April 6 from European diplomatic sources.
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In addition to an extension of the EU blacklist, this tightening of sanctions proposed by the European Commission provides in particular for the cessation of purchases of Russian coal and the closure of ports to Russian ships.
It follows the discovery of corpses wearing civilian clothes in Boutcha, northwest of kyiv, after the withdrawal of Russian forces.
Vladimir Putin on Wednesday denounced "
a crude and cynical provocation
" by Kiev.
Rare public appearances
The services of the Commission have proposed adding the daughters of the Russian president to this list, several diplomatic sources told AFP.
Maria and Katerina were born in 1985 and 1986 respectively, from her marriage to Lioudmila Poutina, whose divorce the Russian president announced in 2013. Very little official information is available on the two young women, and their public appearances are extremely rare.
According to Russian media, Maria Vorontsova, the eldest daughter, is an endocrinologist and is on the board of directors of a Russian medical research company of which she is a co-owner.
She would be married to a Dutch businessman.
The youngest daughter would be Katerina Tikhonova, a specialist in mechanical sciences, who is on the scientific council of Moscow State University and manages Innopraktika there, a support fund for young Russian scientists.
She also directs the Institute of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Moscow, according to Russian media.
Persons and entities on the European blacklist are sanctioned by a ban on entry into the EU and a freezing of their assets.
Already containing the names of 877 people and 62 entities since 2014 following the annexation of Crimea, it would be extended to "
dozens of people
", warned Tuesday the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.
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Vladimir Putin has himself been sanctioned with a freezing of his assets since the start of the Russian offensive at the end of February.
The ambassadors of the Twenty-Seven discussed this fifth set of sanctions on Wednesday and must meet again on Thursday with a view to an agreement, according to these same sources.
The sanctions will then enter into force after publication in the official journal of the EU.