WASHINGTON – For the first time ever, the United States is targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s family and the reason why is from the horrifying images coming from Ukraine.
In Bucha, the atrocities were discovered after Russia’s retreat from the city in northwest Kyiv.
It was there that Ukraine said they found hundreds of civilians dead.
“Civilians executed in cold blood, bodies dumped in mass graves. The sense of brutality and inhumanity left for all the world to see unapologetically,” President Joe Biden said.
In response, the U.S. announced more sanctions on Wednesday, targeting the two adult daughters of Vladimir Putin, Russian government officials and their families, and two of the Kremlin’s largest banks.
“Together with our allies and our partners, we are going to keep raising the economic costs and ratchet up the pain for Putin and further increase Russia’s economic isolation,” Biden said.
Biden will also ban any new U.S. investment in Russia, as the Department of Justice highlighted the disruption of a botnet controlled by Russia’s military intel agency.
“We’ve seen a pattern over time, stash assets and resources in the bank accounts of family members,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
The Department of Justice announced on Thursday, they are charging a Russian oligarch, Konstantin Malofeyev, with sanctions violations after they said he tried to evade them.
This is the first criminal charge against an oligarch since the invasion as NATO is now gathering evidence of war crimes against Russia.