UK
PUNISHING OLIGARCHS
Roman Abramovich handed $450m dividend from Russian mining groupChelsea FC owner holds 29% stake in Evraz amid warning that profits could be hit by sanctions after invasion of Ukraine
Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich owns Chelsea football club.
Photograph: Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto
Rob Davies
@ByRobDavies
Fri 25 Feb 2022
The London-listed Russian steel and mining business Evraz has given investors a $1.55bn (£1.2bn) dividend, worth approximately $450m to its shareholder Roman Abramovich, but warned profits could be affected by economic sanctions aimed at the Kremlin and its allies.
The company reported a 45% rise revenues to $14.1bn in 2021, primarily from the sale of steel but also from coal, while pre-tax profit more than trebled from $1.3bn to $4.2bn.
The result was founded on rising prices, amid soaring demand for steel as the global economy rebounds from the impact of Covid-19.
However, the company, whose operations are largely based in Russia, warned it could suffer the effects if the UK, US and Europe step up sanctions against Russian entities in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Evraz has not been included on the list of sanctioned Russian companies, such as the airline Aeroflot and VTB Bank.
Speaking on a conference call, at which journalists were not permitted to ask questions, the chief finance officer, Nikolay Ivanov, said it was too soon to say whether the company would be affected by sanctions, including any impact on its lending banks.
“Currently, we are analysing the impact of potential sanctions imposed just last night,” he said. “We believe it will not have significant impact on the company.”
However, in its annual report, Evraz said “policies adopted by the Russian government” had increased uncertainty and the risk of the imposition of sanctions, which could have an adverse affect on the business.
The company has also run a simulation of how sanctions could affect profits, including the potential loss of all exports outside the Russian-influenced Commonwealth of Independent States.
It said it could be forced to defer dividends, which would potentially mean a cut in the annual income of the billionaire owner of Chelsea football club, Abramovich, who owns 29% of Evraz.
The company gave investors a dividend of $1.55bn this year, of which Abramovich is entitled to just under $450m.
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Abramovich has not been a target for sanctions. Contacted by the Guardian last week, lawyers for the billionaire said Evraz did not fit the criteria for potential designation for sanctions. They added: “It would be ludicrous to suggest that our client has any responsibility or influence over the behaviour of the Russian state.”
Evraz has previously held multiple assets in Ukraine but disposed of them in 2018.
Referring to the war in its financial results, the company said: “While there have not been direct impacts on the group to date, the board continues to monitor the situation in Ukraine and the response of international governments.”
The Guardian has approached Evraz for further comment.
Shares in Evraz were up almost 20% on Friday afternoon, making it the top riser on the FTSE 100.
Rob Davies
@ByRobDavies
Fri 25 Feb 2022
The London-listed Russian steel and mining business Evraz has given investors a $1.55bn (£1.2bn) dividend, worth approximately $450m to its shareholder Roman Abramovich, but warned profits could be affected by economic sanctions aimed at the Kremlin and its allies.
The company reported a 45% rise revenues to $14.1bn in 2021, primarily from the sale of steel but also from coal, while pre-tax profit more than trebled from $1.3bn to $4.2bn.
The result was founded on rising prices, amid soaring demand for steel as the global economy rebounds from the impact of Covid-19.
However, the company, whose operations are largely based in Russia, warned it could suffer the effects if the UK, US and Europe step up sanctions against Russian entities in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Evraz has not been included on the list of sanctioned Russian companies, such as the airline Aeroflot and VTB Bank.
Speaking on a conference call, at which journalists were not permitted to ask questions, the chief finance officer, Nikolay Ivanov, said it was too soon to say whether the company would be affected by sanctions, including any impact on its lending banks.
“Currently, we are analysing the impact of potential sanctions imposed just last night,” he said. “We believe it will not have significant impact on the company.”
However, in its annual report, Evraz said “policies adopted by the Russian government” had increased uncertainty and the risk of the imposition of sanctions, which could have an adverse affect on the business.
The company has also run a simulation of how sanctions could affect profits, including the potential loss of all exports outside the Russian-influenced Commonwealth of Independent States.
It said it could be forced to defer dividends, which would potentially mean a cut in the annual income of the billionaire owner of Chelsea football club, Abramovich, who owns 29% of Evraz.
The company gave investors a dividend of $1.55bn this year, of which Abramovich is entitled to just under $450m.
Sign up to the daily Business Today email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk<br>
Abramovich has not been a target for sanctions. Contacted by the Guardian last week, lawyers for the billionaire said Evraz did not fit the criteria for potential designation for sanctions. They added: “It would be ludicrous to suggest that our client has any responsibility or influence over the behaviour of the Russian state.”
Evraz has previously held multiple assets in Ukraine but disposed of them in 2018.
Referring to the war in its financial results, the company said: “While there have not been direct impacts on the group to date, the board continues to monitor the situation in Ukraine and the response of international governments.”
The Guardian has approached Evraz for further comment.
Shares in Evraz were up almost 20% on Friday afternoon, making it the top riser on the FTSE 100.
VTB Capital suspended from London Stock Exchange
Ukraine port closure hits exports at UK-listed Ferrexpo
Ukraine invasion: latest updates
Ukraine port closure hits exports at UK-listed Ferrexpo
Ukraine invasion: latest updates
Ukraine invasion: UK MP calls for sanctions on Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich
The New Arab Staff
25 February, 2022
Roman Abramovich bought English football club Chelsea FC in 2003 [UEFA via Getty]
A UK Labour MP urged the British government on Thursday to seize the assets of Russian billionaire and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, because of his ties to the Russian state.
Speaking at the House of Commons on Thursday, Labour MP Chris Bryant used his parliamentary privilege to read aloud from a document he said was published by the UK Home Office in 2019.
According to Bryant, the document said Abramovich was “of interest… due to his links to the Russian state and his public association with corrupt activity and practices”.
"Surely Mr. Abramovich should no longer be able to own a football club in this country?”, Bryant asked.
Replying to Bryant, senior minister Mark Spencer said the government had taken "very strong action against high-profile Russian individuals who are of concern".
Abramovich, who made much of his wealth from state-owned assets acquired after the collapse of the Soviet Union, purchased English football club Chelsea FC in 2003. He has repeatedly denied having ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
RELATED
Live updates: Russian invasion reaches Ukraine capital Kyiv
Live Story
The New Arab Staff & Agencies
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced sanctions on three Russian billionaires earlier this week, after Putin said he recognised two Ukrainian breakaway regions.
Johnson incorrectly told the House of Commons that Abramovich was already facing British sanctions.
The billionaire’s daughter, Sofia Abramovich, took to Instagram to share a post criticising Putin.
“The biggest and most successful lie of Kremlin’s propaganda is that most Russians stand with Putin,” read the graphic she shared on her Instagram story on Friday, originally posted by @russia.reality.
Russia launched a ground invasion of Ukraine on Thursday. Russian troops have reached the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Companies under Abramovich’s control have previously been accused of donating tens of millions of dollars to an Israeli settler organisation accused of forcing Palestinian families out of occupied East Jerusalem.
Abramovich, who made much of his wealth from state-owned assets acquired after the collapse of the Soviet Union, has repeatedly denied having ties to Russian President Vladimir
The New Arab Staff
25 February, 2022
Roman Abramovich bought English football club Chelsea FC in 2003 [UEFA via Getty]
A UK Labour MP urged the British government on Thursday to seize the assets of Russian billionaire and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, because of his ties to the Russian state.
Speaking at the House of Commons on Thursday, Labour MP Chris Bryant used his parliamentary privilege to read aloud from a document he said was published by the UK Home Office in 2019.
According to Bryant, the document said Abramovich was “of interest… due to his links to the Russian state and his public association with corrupt activity and practices”.
"Surely Mr. Abramovich should no longer be able to own a football club in this country?”, Bryant asked.
Replying to Bryant, senior minister Mark Spencer said the government had taken "very strong action against high-profile Russian individuals who are of concern".
Abramovich, who made much of his wealth from state-owned assets acquired after the collapse of the Soviet Union, purchased English football club Chelsea FC in 2003. He has repeatedly denied having ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
RELATED
Live updates: Russian invasion reaches Ukraine capital Kyiv
Live Story
The New Arab Staff & Agencies
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced sanctions on three Russian billionaires earlier this week, after Putin said he recognised two Ukrainian breakaway regions.
Johnson incorrectly told the House of Commons that Abramovich was already facing British sanctions.
The billionaire’s daughter, Sofia Abramovich, took to Instagram to share a post criticising Putin.
“The biggest and most successful lie of Kremlin’s propaganda is that most Russians stand with Putin,” read the graphic she shared on her Instagram story on Friday, originally posted by @russia.reality.
Russia launched a ground invasion of Ukraine on Thursday. Russian troops have reached the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Companies under Abramovich’s control have previously been accused of donating tens of millions of dollars to an Israeli settler organisation accused of forcing Palestinian families out of occupied East Jerusalem.
Buyers Circle Abramovich’s Prized Chelsea
Football Club
, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) --
Suitors of Chelsea FC are on high alert that billionaire Roman Abramovich is to sell the storied English football club, people familiar with the matter said.
Sports investors and private equity firms, including some from the U.S., have began to draw up potential takeover offers for the London team, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. Chelsea has already fielded one enquiry this month, one of the people said.
It comes as governments around the world respond to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine with a range of punishing sanctions against Russia, its companies and super-rich. Abramovich is not currently on the U.K.’s sanctions list.
A representative for Chelsea declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Abramovich could not be reached for comment.
Abramovich has a net worth of about $13 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, having built his fortune from dividends and sales of privatized assets acquired from the former Soviet Union. British foreign secretary Liz Truss this week refused to rule out adding Abramovich to a refreshed list of sanctioned individuals.
The 55-year-old is best known in Britain as the owner of Chelsea, which he bought in 2003. Since then he’s invested millions turning it into one of England and Europe’s most successful teams. Last year, Chelsea won the prestigious UEFA Champions League title and this month added the Club World Cup to its trophy cabinet.
Chris Bryant, a member of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, told the House of Common this week that Abramovich shouldn’t be allowed to own an English football club.
Chelsea is valued at about 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion), according to KPMG, meaning any takeover could be one of the largest in the European game. Those studying possible bids for Chelsea are awaiting more clarity on the situation from the U.K. government before deciding whether to make formal approaches, according to the people.
American investors would show “significant” interest in Chelsea if it came up for sale, said Jeff Moorad, whose MSP Sports Capital has invested in McLaren Racing. The club is “one of the true global brands,” he said in an email.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Russian Billionaires Lose $39 Billion in a Day on Ukraine Attack
Ben Stupples and Blake Schmidt
Thu., February 24, 2022
(Bloomberg) — Russia’s wealthiest individuals were already feeling the squeeze from escalating tensions between the nation and Ukraine.
It got much worse for their net worth after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. In less than 24 hours, they lost $39 billion — more than they had up to that point this year.
The damage was across asset classes. Russia’s benchmark MOEX Russia Index closed 33% lower in Moscow, the fifth-worst plunge in stock market history in local currency terms. It marked the first time since 1987’s Black Monday crash that a decline of that magnitude hit a market worth more than $50 billion.
UBS Group AG, meantime, triggered margin calls on some wealth management clients that use Russian bonds as collateral for their portfolios after cutting the lending value of some debt from the country to zero, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News. The Swiss wealth manager says it caters to half of the world’s billionaires.
One of the worst security crises in Europe since World War II threatens to deepen market declines in the region, but especially in Russia, which has been hit with sanctions by the U.S. and U.K. A handful of billionaires, including Gennady Timchenko, are also subject to penalties for their ties to Putin, though there are calls for widening the potential targets.
“There are a lot of people in the U.S. and Europe who want to hit them directly,” Chris Miller, co-director of the Russia and Eurasia program at Tufts University’s Fletcher School, said of Russian billionaires in an interview. “I don’t think there’s any good news in the sanctions for them.”
Vagit Alekperov, the chairman of Lukoil, saw the sharpest decline in his net worth. It was slashed by almost a third in a day, falling by about $6.2 billion to $13 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Shares of the Moscow-based oil producer slumped about 33% on Thursday.
Alexey Mordashov, chairman of the steelmaker Severstal, lost $4.2 billion on Thursday, bringing his fortune to $23 billion. Vladimir Potanin, president of Norilsk Nickel and currently Russia’s richest person, lost $3 billion.
Alekperov and Timchenko have each lost about $10 billion this year, or more than 40% of their fortunes. Those are the biggest percentage declines among the Russian billionaires tracked by the Bloomberg wealth index.
Ben Stupples and Blake Schmidt
Thu., February 24, 2022
(Bloomberg) — Russia’s wealthiest individuals were already feeling the squeeze from escalating tensions between the nation and Ukraine.
It got much worse for their net worth after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. In less than 24 hours, they lost $39 billion — more than they had up to that point this year.
The damage was across asset classes. Russia’s benchmark MOEX Russia Index closed 33% lower in Moscow, the fifth-worst plunge in stock market history in local currency terms. It marked the first time since 1987’s Black Monday crash that a decline of that magnitude hit a market worth more than $50 billion.
UBS Group AG, meantime, triggered margin calls on some wealth management clients that use Russian bonds as collateral for their portfolios after cutting the lending value of some debt from the country to zero, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News. The Swiss wealth manager says it caters to half of the world’s billionaires.
One of the worst security crises in Europe since World War II threatens to deepen market declines in the region, but especially in Russia, which has been hit with sanctions by the U.S. and U.K. A handful of billionaires, including Gennady Timchenko, are also subject to penalties for their ties to Putin, though there are calls for widening the potential targets.
“There are a lot of people in the U.S. and Europe who want to hit them directly,” Chris Miller, co-director of the Russia and Eurasia program at Tufts University’s Fletcher School, said of Russian billionaires in an interview. “I don’t think there’s any good news in the sanctions for them.”
Vagit Alekperov, the chairman of Lukoil, saw the sharpest decline in his net worth. It was slashed by almost a third in a day, falling by about $6.2 billion to $13 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Shares of the Moscow-based oil producer slumped about 33% on Thursday.
Alexey Mordashov, chairman of the steelmaker Severstal, lost $4.2 billion on Thursday, bringing his fortune to $23 billion. Vladimir Potanin, president of Norilsk Nickel and currently Russia’s richest person, lost $3 billion.
Alekperov and Timchenko have each lost about $10 billion this year, or more than 40% of their fortunes. Those are the biggest percentage declines among the Russian billionaires tracked by the Bloomberg wealth index.
Who are some of the high-profile Russians facing international sanctions?
By Emily Rauhala,
Sammy Westfall and
Claire Parker
February 23, 2022
The United States, Britain and the European Union all imposed new sanctions against Russia this week, in a coordinated bid to punish Moscow for its military invasion of Ukraine.
The measures target a range of companies, banks and powerful individuals in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
On Thursday, President Biden announced a second round of sanctions against Russia’s two largest financial institutions, multiple state-owned enterprises and a handful of Russian elites. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also told Parliament on Thursday that his government was launching the “largest and most severe package of economic sanctions that Russia has ever seen.”
Earlier this week, the European Union said it was freezing the assets of a number of prominent entities and individuals linked to the Kremlin. E.U. officials also announced early Friday a sweeping new sanctions package they said would affect everything including Russia’s oil sector and the ability of Russian diplomats to obtain visas to the bloc.
Here are some of the most high-profile Russian individuals and entities Western nations have placed on sanctions lists so far.
Internet Research Agency
The Internet Research Agency is a Russian company based in St. Petersburg and financed by Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked businessman already under E.U. and U.S. sanctions for his ties to the Wagner mercenary group. The European Union this week listed Prigozhin’s wife and mother as sanctions targets for their involvement with businesses owned by Prigozhin.
The agency engages in online influence operations and was at the center of Silicon Valley’s investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. It was also named in a sweeping 2018 Justice Department indictment as the hub of a major effort to trick Americans into following and promoting Russian-led propaganda aimed at swaying voters toward then-Republican candidate Donald Trump.
“The Americans are very impressionable people, and they see what they want to see,” Prigozhin told Russia’s RIA Novosti state news agency in response to the indictment.
The E.U. said in a note published in its official journal that the Internet Research Agency “conducts disinformation campaigns targeting Ukraine’s agenda by influencing elections or perceptions of the annexation of Crimea or the conflict in Donbas.”
“In this capacity, the Internet Research Agency is responsible for actively supporting actions which undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” the note said.
Prigozhin’s first foray into business was a hot-dog stand. In a series of food-related ventures in the 1990s, he opened a fast food cafe, then food marts and upscale restaurants in Russia’s major cities. He later became known as “Putin’s chef” after founding a catering company that scored a $1.6 billion contract to source 90 percent of food orders to Russian soldiers in 2012.
Maria Zakharova
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
Maria Zakharova is a veteran Russian communications officer who worked as a press secretary for Russia’s mission to the United Nations before landing at the Foreign Ministry in 2008. She has served as the director of the ministry’s Information and Press Department since 2015, giving press briefings on the state of Russian foreign affairs.
The E.U. list calls her “a central figure of the government propaganda” and noted that she “promoted the deployment of Russian forces in Ukraine.”
In a Feb. 16 briefing, Zakharova repeatedly criticized what she called Western “disinformation media” about Russian aggression and the prospect of war in Ukraine.
“Sorry, I was held up for a minute. I was double-checking whether we are invading or not. We’re not invading!” she said at the start of her briefing.
In a Facebook post the same day, Zakharova asked the “mass media of disinformation” in the West “to reveal the schedule of our ‘invasions’ for the upcoming year. I’d like to plan my vacations.”
Anton Vaino
Anton Vaino is a foreign service veteran and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s chief of staff. He served as a Russian diplomat in Tokyo before becoming more heavily involved in domestic political matters.
Very little is known about Vaino, even though he is Putin’s top aide. When he was appointed in 2016, the BBC reported that he had not given any press interviews and that his public biography was slim.
The E.U. listed him, saying he plays “an active role in Kremlin decision-making process by taking part in the Russian ‘Security Council’ and influencing the elaboration of decisions by the president in the field of Russia’s defense and national security.”
Sergei Shoigu
Russian Defense Minister
Sergei Shoigu is Russia’s minister of defense and his official biography lists him as “Army General, Hero of the Russian Federation.” He has served as defense minister since 2012 after a stint as governor of Moscow.
In a speech in December, Shoigu accused the United States and NATO of “purposefully increasing the scale and intensity” of military training activities near Russia and bolstering the military development of Ukraine. On Monday, Shoigu said Ukraine had stepped up shelling of separatist-controlled areas of the Donbas region in the east. He told Putin that Ukraine may be preparing to take them back by force — charges Kyiv denied.
The E.U. sanctioned him, saying that under Shoigu’s “command and orders, Russian troops have held military drills in the illegally annexed Crimea and have been positioned at the border.” The minister is “ultimately responsible for any military action against Ukraine,” the official sanctions note said.
Publishing what they called “rare pictures” of Shoigu, the Siberian Times in 2016 showed the defense minister in a gray hooded sweatshirt, painting a landscape from life. The outlet said that Shoigu is a “renowned collector of Chinese and Japanese samurai swords” and a known expert on Russia during the time of Peter the Great, and that he speaks nine languages fluently.
Margarita Simonyanre
Margarita Simonyan, the head of the Russian television channel RT
Simonyan is the editor in chief of RT, an English-language television news network formerly known as Russia Today. She also heads the news outlet Rossiya Segodnya, a Kremlin-backed news agency that operates Sputnik and RIA Novosti. The State Department last month called both RT and Sputnik “critical elements in Russia’s disinformation and propaganda ecosystem.”
The European Union, which this week placed her on a sanctions list, said that “through her function, she promoted a positive attitude to the annexation of Crimea and the action of separatists in Donbas.”
The state-funded media outlet has also been linked to disinformation campaigns and Russian propaganda.
After Facebook temporarily blocked RT from posting content to its page in Jan. 2017, Simonyan said she was “not surprised … if the Department of State could block oxygen to us, they would do it.”
After a back-and-forth between the U.S. Justice Department and RT over the media outlet’s registration with U.S. authorities as a foreign agent, Simonyan in 2017 announced that she was “forced to choose registration” — but said she’d “continue to fight this as long as it’s possible.”
Andrey Sergeyevich Puchkov and Yuriy Alekseyevich Soloviev
Andrey Sergeyevich Puchkov and Yuriy Alekseyevich Soloviev are high-ranking executives at VTB Bank, which is Russia’s second-largest lender. The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted both executives on Thursday.
The administration targeted VTB Bank as well as Sberbank, cutting them off from being able to process payments through the U.S. financial system. The institutions conduct around $46 billion in foreign exchange transactions each day, about 80 percent of which is in U.S. dollars.
“The vast majority of those transactions will now be disrupted,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The E.U. also listed several individuals linked to VTB this week, including Denis Aleksandrovich Bortnikov, deputy president and chairman of VTB Bank management board.
In a note published in the E.U.'s official journal Wednesday, the bloc said that Bortnikov uses his position to “legitimize his father’s shadow/illegal income.” His father, Alexander Bortnikov, is director of Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB.
Kirill Shamalov
Among the new additions to Britain’s sanctions list is Kirill Shamalov, whom the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has described as “Russia’s youngest billionaire … previously married to Putin’s daughter Katarina.”
Shamalov, 39, is a shareholder and deputy chair of the management board at Russian government-affiliated petrochemicals company Sibur — a role in which he “is or has been involved in obtaining a benefit from or supporting the Government of Russia,” according to British authorities.
The U.K. sanctions list describes him as having “close links to President Putin and the Kremlin.” That could be because he was married for five years to Katerina Tikhonova, who is widely acknowledged outside official circles as Putin’s daughter. (Putin has never publicly identified his children.)
During their marriage, the couple reportedly lived a lavish lifestyle that featured a seaside villa in Biarritz, France, and drew allegations of corruption.
War in Ukraine: What you need to know
The latest: Russian forces press closer to Kyiv as U.S. warn it could fall soon as Ukrainians flee to train stations.
Maps: Russia’s assault on Ukraine has been extensive with strikes and attacks across the entire country. We’re tracking the invasion here.
The invasion: Photos and videos show what the situation on the ground looks like. Here’s what we know about why Russia has attacked Ukraine.
How we got here: The conflict playing out between Russia and Ukraine is one marked by land borders and shaped by strategic influence. These four maps help explain the deep roots of the conflict and where things stand right now.
The response: U.S. targeted major Russian banks and tech sector with sweeping sanctions and export controls following Ukraine invasion. Global leaders were quick to condemn Russia’s actions and call for a decisive response. In some corners, responses were somewhat muted.
Read our full coverage of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
By Emily Rauhala,
Sammy Westfall and
Claire Parker
February 23, 2022
The United States, Britain and the European Union all imposed new sanctions against Russia this week, in a coordinated bid to punish Moscow for its military invasion of Ukraine.
The measures target a range of companies, banks and powerful individuals in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
On Thursday, President Biden announced a second round of sanctions against Russia’s two largest financial institutions, multiple state-owned enterprises and a handful of Russian elites. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also told Parliament on Thursday that his government was launching the “largest and most severe package of economic sanctions that Russia has ever seen.”
Earlier this week, the European Union said it was freezing the assets of a number of prominent entities and individuals linked to the Kremlin. E.U. officials also announced early Friday a sweeping new sanctions package they said would affect everything including Russia’s oil sector and the ability of Russian diplomats to obtain visas to the bloc.
Here are some of the most high-profile Russian individuals and entities Western nations have placed on sanctions lists so far.
Internet Research Agency
The Internet Research Agency is a Russian company based in St. Petersburg and financed by Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked businessman already under E.U. and U.S. sanctions for his ties to the Wagner mercenary group. The European Union this week listed Prigozhin’s wife and mother as sanctions targets for their involvement with businesses owned by Prigozhin.
The agency engages in online influence operations and was at the center of Silicon Valley’s investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. It was also named in a sweeping 2018 Justice Department indictment as the hub of a major effort to trick Americans into following and promoting Russian-led propaganda aimed at swaying voters toward then-Republican candidate Donald Trump.
“The Americans are very impressionable people, and they see what they want to see,” Prigozhin told Russia’s RIA Novosti state news agency in response to the indictment.
The E.U. said in a note published in its official journal that the Internet Research Agency “conducts disinformation campaigns targeting Ukraine’s agenda by influencing elections or perceptions of the annexation of Crimea or the conflict in Donbas.”
“In this capacity, the Internet Research Agency is responsible for actively supporting actions which undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” the note said.
Prigozhin’s first foray into business was a hot-dog stand. In a series of food-related ventures in the 1990s, he opened a fast food cafe, then food marts and upscale restaurants in Russia’s major cities. He later became known as “Putin’s chef” after founding a catering company that scored a $1.6 billion contract to source 90 percent of food orders to Russian soldiers in 2012.
Maria Zakharova
Maria Zakharova is a veteran Russian communications officer who worked as a press secretary for Russia’s mission to the United Nations before landing at the Foreign Ministry in 2008. She has served as the director of the ministry’s Information and Press Department since 2015, giving press briefings on the state of Russian foreign affairs.
The E.U. list calls her “a central figure of the government propaganda” and noted that she “promoted the deployment of Russian forces in Ukraine.”
In a Feb. 16 briefing, Zakharova repeatedly criticized what she called Western “disinformation media” about Russian aggression and the prospect of war in Ukraine.
“Sorry, I was held up for a minute. I was double-checking whether we are invading or not. We’re not invading!” she said at the start of her briefing.
In a Facebook post the same day, Zakharova asked the “mass media of disinformation” in the West “to reveal the schedule of our ‘invasions’ for the upcoming year. I’d like to plan my vacations.”
Anton Vaino
SPYMASTER
Anton Vaino is a foreign service veteran and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s chief of staff. He served as a Russian diplomat in Tokyo before becoming more heavily involved in domestic political matters.
Very little is known about Vaino, even though he is Putin’s top aide. When he was appointed in 2016, the BBC reported that he had not given any press interviews and that his public biography was slim.
The E.U. listed him, saying he plays “an active role in Kremlin decision-making process by taking part in the Russian ‘Security Council’ and influencing the elaboration of decisions by the president in the field of Russia’s defense and national security.”
Sergei Shoigu
Sergei Shoigu is Russia’s minister of defense and his official biography lists him as “Army General, Hero of the Russian Federation.” He has served as defense minister since 2012 after a stint as governor of Moscow.
In a speech in December, Shoigu accused the United States and NATO of “purposefully increasing the scale and intensity” of military training activities near Russia and bolstering the military development of Ukraine. On Monday, Shoigu said Ukraine had stepped up shelling of separatist-controlled areas of the Donbas region in the east. He told Putin that Ukraine may be preparing to take them back by force — charges Kyiv denied.
The E.U. sanctioned him, saying that under Shoigu’s “command and orders, Russian troops have held military drills in the illegally annexed Crimea and have been positioned at the border.” The minister is “ultimately responsible for any military action against Ukraine,” the official sanctions note said.
Publishing what they called “rare pictures” of Shoigu, the Siberian Times in 2016 showed the defense minister in a gray hooded sweatshirt, painting a landscape from life. The outlet said that Shoigu is a “renowned collector of Chinese and Japanese samurai swords” and a known expert on Russia during the time of Peter the Great, and that he speaks nine languages fluently.
Margarita Simonyanre
Simonyan is the editor in chief of RT, an English-language television news network formerly known as Russia Today. She also heads the news outlet Rossiya Segodnya, a Kremlin-backed news agency that operates Sputnik and RIA Novosti. The State Department last month called both RT and Sputnik “critical elements in Russia’s disinformation and propaganda ecosystem.”
The European Union, which this week placed her on a sanctions list, said that “through her function, she promoted a positive attitude to the annexation of Crimea and the action of separatists in Donbas.”
The state-funded media outlet has also been linked to disinformation campaigns and Russian propaganda.
After Facebook temporarily blocked RT from posting content to its page in Jan. 2017, Simonyan said she was “not surprised … if the Department of State could block oxygen to us, they would do it.”
After a back-and-forth between the U.S. Justice Department and RT over the media outlet’s registration with U.S. authorities as a foreign agent, Simonyan in 2017 announced that she was “forced to choose registration” — but said she’d “continue to fight this as long as it’s possible.”
Andrey Sergeyevich Puchkov and Yuriy Alekseyevich Soloviev
Andrey Sergeyevich Puchkov and Yuriy Alekseyevich Soloviev are high-ranking executives at VTB Bank, which is Russia’s second-largest lender. The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted both executives on Thursday.
The administration targeted VTB Bank as well as Sberbank, cutting them off from being able to process payments through the U.S. financial system. The institutions conduct around $46 billion in foreign exchange transactions each day, about 80 percent of which is in U.S. dollars.
“The vast majority of those transactions will now be disrupted,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The E.U. also listed several individuals linked to VTB this week, including Denis Aleksandrovich Bortnikov, deputy president and chairman of VTB Bank management board.
In a note published in the E.U.'s official journal Wednesday, the bloc said that Bortnikov uses his position to “legitimize his father’s shadow/illegal income.” His father, Alexander Bortnikov, is director of Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB.
Kirill Shamalov
Among the new additions to Britain’s sanctions list is Kirill Shamalov, whom the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has described as “Russia’s youngest billionaire … previously married to Putin’s daughter Katarina.”
Shamalov, 39, is a shareholder and deputy chair of the management board at Russian government-affiliated petrochemicals company Sibur — a role in which he “is or has been involved in obtaining a benefit from or supporting the Government of Russia,” according to British authorities.
The U.K. sanctions list describes him as having “close links to President Putin and the Kremlin.” That could be because he was married for five years to Katerina Tikhonova, who is widely acknowledged outside official circles as Putin’s daughter. (Putin has never publicly identified his children.)
During their marriage, the couple reportedly lived a lavish lifestyle that featured a seaside villa in Biarritz, France, and drew allegations of corruption.
War in Ukraine: What you need to know
The latest: Russian forces press closer to Kyiv as U.S. warn it could fall soon as Ukrainians flee to train stations.
Maps: Russia’s assault on Ukraine has been extensive with strikes and attacks across the entire country. We’re tracking the invasion here.
The invasion: Photos and videos show what the situation on the ground looks like. Here’s what we know about why Russia has attacked Ukraine.
How we got here: The conflict playing out between Russia and Ukraine is one marked by land borders and shaped by strategic influence. These four maps help explain the deep roots of the conflict and where things stand right now.
The response: U.S. targeted major Russian banks and tech sector with sweeping sanctions and export controls following Ukraine invasion. Global leaders were quick to condemn Russia’s actions and call for a decisive response. In some corners, responses were somewhat muted.
Read our full coverage of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
It’s Putin’s tale of two cities – London for his oligarchs, Kyiv for his bombs
Our capital pulls its punches when it comes to penalising Russia’s richest, but Putin shows no such mercy to Ukraine
Just a tiny snapshot from a London that is uniquely placed to hurt Russia’s richest and most powerful – the class who could ultimately help decide how long Vladimir Putin sticks around. Yet London continues to pull its punches. In a mirthless sort of way, I enjoyed Boris Johnson thundering on Thursday that “oligarchs in London will have nowhere to hide”. Righto. That same morning, Andrey Guryev, the reported owner of Witanhurst, London’s second largest house after Buckingham Palace, could be seen on telly at Putin’s meeting of the oligarchs in the Kremlin. Not a great hiding place – but then, perhaps Andrey knows the seeker is so quarter-arsed he doesn’t actually need one. London’s fight against oligarchs reminds me a lot of Russia’s fight against doping in sports. Some real through-the-looking-glass stuff.
Anyway, I say that Guryev is the “reported owner” of Witanhurst, because even that simple fact remains extraordinarily difficult to establish, to say nothing of more controversial information. For so many of these Russian persons of interest, the internet management alone is a full-time job. But then, there are so very many full-timers. In a few weeks you will be able to buy the brilliant Oliver Bullough’s new book, Butler to the World, in which he details how the UK became the servant of some of the world’s worst individuals. To help the oligarchs, the kleptocrats and the gangsters, Londongrad boasts a whole humming, interconnected professional class of reality-launderers specifically designed to service them – lawyers and lobbyists and education consultants and all sorts of others who imagine themselves to work for respectable businesses. But don’t.
I thought of them when I read an article by Marta Shokalo, editor of the BBC’s Ukrainian service, written in the hours after the invasion began on Thursday. She described hearing the explosions in Kyiv and, later, getting her 10-year-old son up and dressed. “We had some breakfast, sitting as far from the windows as we could,” she wrote, “but he was so scared he vomited.” Reading this yesterday before supper with my own children I felt such a deep, painful sympathy for her. There is no one working to launder reality for her child. There is no army of sharp-suited professionals lavishing painstaking hours on making all the bad stuff go away for Ukrainian children, two of whom were reportedly killed in the past 24 hours by Russian strikes on civilian targets. It is their misfortune – their tragedy – to live at the sharp end of Vladimir Putin’s wickedness, while the megarich who exist in grotesque symbiosis with the Russian president have their every rough edge smoothed off in this capital they most adore to call home. Or, as Bullough now asks: “Why are we preferring Russian oligarchs over Ukrainian kids?”
Why indeed? I don’t want to go out on a limb here, but Britain’s professed attempt to deter Putin with sanctions was arguably hindered by not imposing any even remotely irksome sanctions until after he’d actually invaded Ukraine. Less “stop or we’ll shoot”, more “shoot or we’ll stop”. For so long now, the urgency and gravitas that successive governments have brought to this problem are epitomised by Gavin Williamson’s comment that “Russia should go away and should shut up”.
That, you might recall, came in the wake of Putin deploying a nerve agent on our soil. Even now, just typing those words is a proper mindmelt. Not one month before, the wife of Putin’s former deputy finance minister had successfully bid £30,000 at a Tory party fundraiser to have dinner with Williamson at the Churchill war rooms. Indeed, this same woman, Lubov Chernukhin, has spent a fortune buying time with politicians, including £160,000 to play tennis with David Cameron and Boris Johnson. The year after Salisbury, she paid £135,000 for “a night out with Theresa May”. (I know, I know – second prize was two nights out with Theresa May.) We’ve even seen a picture of this soiree, thanks to trigger-happy Instagrammer Liz Truss, who came along for the fun, along with several other senior Tory women. The future foreign secretary genuinely captioned the picture: “And it’s ladies night #cabinetandfriends #girlpower.” As one fellow attender fumed of Truss, she’d “dropped them in it for the sake of a few likes”.
Which sounds like the words of someone who’d prefer that their money-grubbing and influence-peddling happened in secret. In Londongrad, of course, they would be in positively multitudinous company. As Putin closes in physically on Ukraine’s capital, our own capital has yet to properly instigate a reckoning with itself. Instead, the people with power to hit his cronies where it hurts still prefer to just shut up and go away.
Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist
Our capital pulls its punches when it comes to penalising Russia’s richest, but Putin shows no such mercy to Ukraine
Vladimir Putin at the Russian Interior Ministry headquarters in Moscow, February 2020.
Photograph: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
Marina Hyde
Fri 25 Feb 2022
If I look out of the window as I’m writing this, I can see the grand, stuccoed Russian embassy in London, which some years ago mounted a large screen on the wall outside, on which it likes to broadcast its frequently obnoxious Twitter feed to passersby. If I look at the television screen in the room in which I’m sitting, I can see a despairing Ukrainian woman throwing her broken windows from her apartment building in the aftermath of a shelling. So yes: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
This afternoon, when I walk down to the opticians, I will pass some large, unconvincingly spontaneous graffiti that recently appeared on someone else’s wall. It reads: “There is no Russian interference in elections.” (Kids, eh?) Next, I will pass two vast houses that I know to be owned by oligarchs – one of whom is Roman Abramovich – and two others that are heavily rumoured to be. Some of these properties are on a street that also hosts various ambassadorial residences, and they are therefore protected obligingly around the clock by multiple armed British police officers.
Fri 25 Feb 2022
If I look out of the window as I’m writing this, I can see the grand, stuccoed Russian embassy in London, which some years ago mounted a large screen on the wall outside, on which it likes to broadcast its frequently obnoxious Twitter feed to passersby. If I look at the television screen in the room in which I’m sitting, I can see a despairing Ukrainian woman throwing her broken windows from her apartment building in the aftermath of a shelling. So yes: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
This afternoon, when I walk down to the opticians, I will pass some large, unconvincingly spontaneous graffiti that recently appeared on someone else’s wall. It reads: “There is no Russian interference in elections.” (Kids, eh?) Next, I will pass two vast houses that I know to be owned by oligarchs – one of whom is Roman Abramovich – and two others that are heavily rumoured to be. Some of these properties are on a street that also hosts various ambassadorial residences, and they are therefore protected obligingly around the clock by multiple armed British police officers.
Just a tiny snapshot from a London that is uniquely placed to hurt Russia’s richest and most powerful – the class who could ultimately help decide how long Vladimir Putin sticks around. Yet London continues to pull its punches. In a mirthless sort of way, I enjoyed Boris Johnson thundering on Thursday that “oligarchs in London will have nowhere to hide”. Righto. That same morning, Andrey Guryev, the reported owner of Witanhurst, London’s second largest house after Buckingham Palace, could be seen on telly at Putin’s meeting of the oligarchs in the Kremlin. Not a great hiding place – but then, perhaps Andrey knows the seeker is so quarter-arsed he doesn’t actually need one. London’s fight against oligarchs reminds me a lot of Russia’s fight against doping in sports. Some real through-the-looking-glass stuff.
Anyway, I say that Guryev is the “reported owner” of Witanhurst, because even that simple fact remains extraordinarily difficult to establish, to say nothing of more controversial information. For so many of these Russian persons of interest, the internet management alone is a full-time job. But then, there are so very many full-timers. In a few weeks you will be able to buy the brilliant Oliver Bullough’s new book, Butler to the World, in which he details how the UK became the servant of some of the world’s worst individuals. To help the oligarchs, the kleptocrats and the gangsters, Londongrad boasts a whole humming, interconnected professional class of reality-launderers specifically designed to service them – lawyers and lobbyists and education consultants and all sorts of others who imagine themselves to work for respectable businesses. But don’t.
I thought of them when I read an article by Marta Shokalo, editor of the BBC’s Ukrainian service, written in the hours after the invasion began on Thursday. She described hearing the explosions in Kyiv and, later, getting her 10-year-old son up and dressed. “We had some breakfast, sitting as far from the windows as we could,” she wrote, “but he was so scared he vomited.” Reading this yesterday before supper with my own children I felt such a deep, painful sympathy for her. There is no one working to launder reality for her child. There is no army of sharp-suited professionals lavishing painstaking hours on making all the bad stuff go away for Ukrainian children, two of whom were reportedly killed in the past 24 hours by Russian strikes on civilian targets. It is their misfortune – their tragedy – to live at the sharp end of Vladimir Putin’s wickedness, while the megarich who exist in grotesque symbiosis with the Russian president have their every rough edge smoothed off in this capital they most adore to call home. Or, as Bullough now asks: “Why are we preferring Russian oligarchs over Ukrainian kids?”
Why indeed? I don’t want to go out on a limb here, but Britain’s professed attempt to deter Putin with sanctions was arguably hindered by not imposing any even remotely irksome sanctions until after he’d actually invaded Ukraine. Less “stop or we’ll shoot”, more “shoot or we’ll stop”. For so long now, the urgency and gravitas that successive governments have brought to this problem are epitomised by Gavin Williamson’s comment that “Russia should go away and should shut up”.
That, you might recall, came in the wake of Putin deploying a nerve agent on our soil. Even now, just typing those words is a proper mindmelt. Not one month before, the wife of Putin’s former deputy finance minister had successfully bid £30,000 at a Tory party fundraiser to have dinner with Williamson at the Churchill war rooms. Indeed, this same woman, Lubov Chernukhin, has spent a fortune buying time with politicians, including £160,000 to play tennis with David Cameron and Boris Johnson. The year after Salisbury, she paid £135,000 for “a night out with Theresa May”. (I know, I know – second prize was two nights out with Theresa May.) We’ve even seen a picture of this soiree, thanks to trigger-happy Instagrammer Liz Truss, who came along for the fun, along with several other senior Tory women. The future foreign secretary genuinely captioned the picture: “And it’s ladies night #cabinetandfriends #girlpower.” As one fellow attender fumed of Truss, she’d “dropped them in it for the sake of a few likes”.
Which sounds like the words of someone who’d prefer that their money-grubbing and influence-peddling happened in secret. In Londongrad, of course, they would be in positively multitudinous company. As Putin closes in physically on Ukraine’s capital, our own capital has yet to properly instigate a reckoning with itself. Instead, the people with power to hit his cronies where it hurts still prefer to just shut up and go away.
Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist
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