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After the sudden death of Alexei Navalny, the government of US President Joe Biden wants to make life more difficult for Russia's oligarchs.
Washington DC - US officials announced a series of legal actions against Russia's oligarchs and their allies on Thursday.
The government of US President Joe Biden wants to increase financial pressure on President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine.
Justice Department officials announced the arrest of two “facilitators” of a sanctioned Russian oligarch.
At the same time, two luxury condominiums in Miami belonging to another Russian oligarch already under US sanctions were confiscated.
The Justice Department also charged an official in connection with an alleged scheme to operate a luxury yacht owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch and pleaded guilty in connection with money laundering on behalf of other sanctioned Russian companies.
US President Joe Biden.
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USA reacts to the sudden death of Alexei Navalny
The numerous legal actions come as the United States is looking for ways to respond to the sudden death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison colony.
White House officials said earlier this week that the administration would impose new sanctions on Russia over Navalny's death, although it is unclear how effective those financial penalties might be.
The United States has imposed economic sanctions on the Russian economy for about two years because of the war in Ukraine.
Nevertheless, the Russian economy grew significantly last year and is expected to continue to grow this year.
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Despite the sanctions, the Kremlin continues to benefit from billions of dollars in energy sales, which Western allies have not fully stopped for fear of rising gas prices.
Some experts predicted that tough U.S. sanctions on Russian oligarchs would prompt them to turn against Putin and threaten his power, but at least so far those hopes have not been realized.
Washington has led its international allies in imposing a price cap on the sale of Russian oil, but some analysts say it needs to be enforced more strictly.
Andrei Kostin.
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“Sanctions against Russian oligarchs are a step in the right direction, but they are not enough,” said Simon Johnson, an economist at MIT.
“The missing element is enforcing Russia’s oil price cap to really cut into the Kremlin’s revenue.”
New sanctions from the USA against Russia after Navalny's death
The actions announced Thursday were led by the Justice Department's KleptoCapture Task Force, which was created in March 2022 to target Russian oligarchs as a key part of the Western response to the invasion of Ukraine.
According to Assistant Attorney General Lisa Monaco, the task force has so far filed 70 criminal complaints against individuals and five criminal complaints against entities, while attempting to forfeit or seize approximately $700 million in assets.
U.S. officials briefing reporters Thursday said about $6 million in seized Russian assets had been transferred to Ukraine, mostly to support war veterans.
“Since the beginning of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the Justice Department has used every tool in our arsenal,” Monaco said in a statement.
The aim is to “target the criminal actors and activities that support Vladimir Putin, his henchmen and his illegal war.”
The Justice Department said authorities in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York have unveiled indictments against three people, including sanctioned oligarch Andrei Kostin, and arrested two people accused of being Kostin's "facilitators."
The United States also filed a civil seizure complaint to seize two luxury Miami condominiums located at the Ritz Carlton in Bal Harbor, valued at $2.5 million and owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Perevalov.
Other charges included a new indictment against Vladislav Osipov for bank fraud in connection with the operation of the motor yacht Tango, a 255-foot luxury yacht owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
To the author
Jeff Stein
is a White House business reporter for The Washington Post.
He was a crime reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard and founded the nonprofit local news outlet Ithaca Voice in Upstate New York in 2014.
He was also a reporter for Vox.
We are currently testing machine translations. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English on February 22, 2024 at the “Washingtonpost.com” - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.