The United States has announced another round of sanctions against Russia — this time calling out President Putin's "cronies".
The list of prominent oligarchs and their families will now see themselves cut off from the US financial system. The US government said it was "working to identify and freeze the assets of Russian elites ... their yachts, luxury apartments, money and other ill-gotten gains".
Nineteen individuals have been named, including one of the country's richest men — Alisher Usmanov, whose mega-yacht Dilbar is already subject to a German seizure notice. It's currently in a shipyard in Hamburg and all work has been halted.
The selected group have been chosen because they are "known to direct, authorise, fund, significantly support or carry out malign activities is support of Russia's destabilising foreign policy", the US administration said in a statement.
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American officials are also going after Russian government figures. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov is on the list.
The move comes as US President Joe Biden faces increasing pressure to impose even harsher sanctions on Russia, including on the export of Russian oil.
So far the president has resisted taking such action as it would drive up the already-high price of a barrel.
However when asked specifically about such a sanction on Thursday, he told reporters "nothing is off the table".
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