Sanctions against Russia
59 Commons Library Research Briefing, 22 March 2023
Individual sanctions against oligarchs, propagandists and Putin's inner
circle
EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, has indicated there would be further
listings against Russian individuals and "the elite of Putin's regime that
benefit financially from the system".
258
A further 26 individuals and one entity were added to the EU's sanctions
regime on 28 February from the oil, banking and finance sectors, the
government, and the Russian military. Among the individuals listed is Igor
Sechin, CEO of Rosneft; Nikolay Tokarev, CEO of Transneft; Dmitry Peskov,
President Putin's Press Secretary and Alisher Usmanov.
On 9 March 2022 the EU confirmed that a further 160 individuals had been
sanctioned. Among them are 14 Russian oligarchs and 146 members of the
Russian Federation Council who ratified the treaties of friendship, cooperation
and mutual assistance between Russia and the DPR and LPR in February 2022.
A further 15 individuals were designated by the EU on 15 March, including
Roman Abramovich, who had already been sanctioned by the UK. Other
designated individuals included prominent businesspeople from the iron and
steel, energy and military sectors and several lobbyists and those accused of
spreading propaganda.
259
On 8 April the EU announced sanctions against "key oligarchs and
businesspeople, high ranking Kremlin officials, proponents of disinformation
and information manipulation".
260
Among them are billionaire Oleg
Deripaska, already sanctioned by the UK; Vladimir Sungorkin, Editor in Chief
of Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda; Sergey Mikhailov, Director
General of the Russian news agency TASS, and Oleg Dobrodeev, Director
General of the Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company,
Russia's largest state media holding.
Several family members of already sanctioned individuals have also been
designated to "make sure that EU sanctions are not circumvented". Among
them are Elena Timchenko, wife of billionaire Gennady Timchenko, and
President Putin's two daughters.
261
On 21 April 2022, the EU also sanctioned Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder and
unofficial head of the Wagner Group.
262
As part of its sixth sanctions package in June 2022, the EU made additional
sanctions designations on 3 June targeting 65 individuals and 18 entities.
258
EU External Action Service, Press statement by EU High Representative, 27 February 2022
259
Official Journal of the European Union, L87 I, Vol.65, 15 March 2022
260
Council of the European Union, Press release, 8 April 2022
261
Official Journal of the European Union, L110/55, 8 April 2022
262
Council of the European Union, Press release, 21 April 2022
