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US imposes new sanctions against Russia, targeting sons of billionaires and ousted Ukrainian president

Source: US Treasury Department

The United States has imposed new sanctions on several Russian and Ukrainian citizens, including Alexander Yanukovych (the son of ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych) and Roman Rothenberg (the son of Russian businessman Boris Rothenberg). The full list of sanctioned individuals and companies can be found on the website of the US Treasury.

The sanctions list also includes several companies. Among them is the Izhevsky Mekhanichesky Zavod, a factory that produces Makarov pistols. Several Crimean commercial and trading ports also made the list, including the ports of Kerch, Yalta, Feodosia, and Sevastopol. In addition, some structures belonging to the Russian energy giant Rosneft and several banks are on the new list.

Today, the Office of Foreign Assets Control is issuing an important Crimea Sanctions Advisory to highlight some of the practices that have been used to circumvent or evade U.S. sanctions involving the Crimea region of Ukraine (Crimea).

US Treasury Department

Roman Rothenberg is the advisor to the board of directors chairman of Gazprombank, the vice president of marketing of the St. Petersburg hockey club SKA, a member of the board of directors of the Continental Hockey League, and the vice president of the Russian Hockey Federation. He owns shares of the Helsinki Hartwall Arena, which he bought from his father Boris Rothenberg and his uncle Arkady Rothenberg, after they were sanctioned by the USA.

Alexander Yanukovych, the son of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych (who is currently in exile in Russia after fleeing Kiev, following mass protests in 2014) is considered to be the main holder of his father’s assets. In 2013, his estimated net worth amounted to half a billion dollars. After his father was ousted from the Ukrainian presidency, Alexander Yanukovych fled to Russia.

The US and the EU have imposed sanctions on a handful Russian state-owned companies, depriving them of access to Western loans and Western markets. Several individuals have also been sanctioned. The sanctions regime is a retaliation for Russia’s role in the conflict in the east of Ukraine and for the annexation of Crimea in 2014. In response, Russia has imposed an embargo on some foreign products.