WORLD_ Putin's inner circle hit by EU sanctions

Putin's inner circle hit by EU sanctions

The European Union blacklists two of Vladimir Putin’s closest “cronies” and freezes assets of the Russian weapons company that made missiles used to shoot down the doomed Malaysian Airlines flight

By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels
9:26PM BST 30 Jul 2014
The Telegraph


The European Union has imposed sanctions against some of President Vladimir Putin's closest associates, the first time they have been targeted over Russia's actions in Ukraine.

Arkady Rotenberg and Yuri Kovalchuk are the highest ranking members of President Putin’s inner circle to have their European assets confiscated and their visas revoked. Both are already blacklisted by the United States.

Nikolay Shamalov, another Russian banker close to President Putin is also targeted along with Alexei Gromov who is the Kremlin’s deputy chief of staff alongside four Russian separatists playing a leading role in the destabilisation of East Ukraine.

The new Brussels blacklist is the first time that it has gone beyond sanctions on people directly involved in Crimea or East Ukraine to hit the oligarchs in Mr Putin’s inner circle but the EU has failed to be as tough as the US that has targeted many more of the banks and individuals at the centre of power in Russia.

EU governments dependent on Russia for energy imports have held off listing Igor Sechin, the mastermind of the Kremlin’s energy strategy and Russia’s second most powerful man because he is the chairman of Rosneft, the oil company with close links to European companies such as BP.


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In contrast to Europe, Mr Sechin has been blacklisted by the US along with Gazprombank, Russia’s third largest financial institution with close links to the gas export giant, which the EU also pulled back from blacklisting in new sanction measures published on Wednesday night.

Almaz-Antey, one of Russia's largest military manufacturers, was blacklisted for making the Buk SA-11 missile system that has been held responsible for shooting down flight MH17 on 17 July with the loss of 298 lives.

In international terms the company is Russia’s largest with revenues of £3.6billion and its missiles are a major arms export. Almaz-Antey could be hit hard by the sanctions because it is said to be heavily reliant on European machinery and components.

Mr Rotenberg, along with his brother Boris, who is blacklisted by the US but the EU, is a childhood friend of the Russian leader and played with him on streets of Leningrad, the city now known as St Petersberg.

The trio were so close that they practised judo together at the same city club and the relationship has become highly lucrative, and two billionaire brothers have provided key support to Mr Putin's "pet projects", such as the Sochi Olympic Games and Gazprom.

Mr Kovalchuk and Mr Shamalov are also billionaires who are close to Mr Putin and founders, with him, of the shadowy and powerful Ozero cooperative society of luxury dacha owners on the eastern shore of Lake Komsomolskoye near Saint Petersburg that brings together Russia’s most powerful oligarchs.

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