3 March, 2022, Following up on the sanctions against Russia in the face of brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the Treasury has “intensified pressure” by imposing sanctions on several Russian oligarchs, and their next of kin, blocking properties as well as targeting disinformation channels operating under Russian intelligence.
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The names designated are known to be supporting the Russian government through their business operations and wealth, funnelling or making available funds to the Putin regime in support of its invasion of Ukraine, and benefit from close ties to the Kremlin.
Billionaire Usmanov
The Treasury has sanctioned one of Russia’s wealthiest billionaires, Alisher Burhanovich Usmanov (Usmanov), on grounds of his operations in the tech industry of the Russian economy.
Usmanov holds extensive interests in metals, mining and telecom industries, and is known to be a close associate of Putin. His business operations are known to be financial conduits for the war machine set in motion by him.
Usmanov is the owner of one of the world’s super yachts, the Cayman Island flagged vessel estimated to worth between $600 to $725 M, equipped with two helipads and one of the world’s largest indoor pools; named after his mother, Dilbar, and one of the world’s largest privately owned aircraft, an Airbus A340-300 named fter his father, Bourkhan.
The properties are also blocked, any transactions involving the yacht or the aircraft, including maintenance, docking or landing fees – these operations cannot be conducted with U.S. personnel in U.S. dollars.
A Disinformation mogul
The Treasury also sanctioned Yevgeniy Prigozhin financier of the Internet Research Agency (IRA), which he utilizes to operate global influence operations. Prigozhin is responsible for creating disinformation that denigrated the U.S. electoral process and perception-manufacturing efforts focused on driving a ridge between communities in Ukraine.
Prigozhin is being re-designated for attempting to interfere in the U.S. elections on behalf of the Russian government, along with his wife, Lyubov, daughter Polina and son, Pavel who play various roles in Prigozhin’s business activities.
SVR, GRU and FSB directed networks: the SCF, InfoRos, and NewsFront.
Destabilisation via spreading false narratives has been the strategy of Putin since the inception of Russia’s vast, well-branched media networks. The channels also capitalised on the fear and panic created by the COVID-19 pandemic, to push preferred versions of stories on Ukraine, the Middle East, and Africa and interfere in U.S. elections. Some of them pretend to be credible networks connected to the academia, or the sciences while carefully layering disinformation, conspiracy theories and propaganda.
The Treasury, in this tranche of sanctions furthered the actions against disinformation outlets and targeted the employees of SVR-directed Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF). The SCF, an online journal controlled by the SVR’s Directorate of Active Measures was designated on April 15, 2021.
The Treasury also targeted two additional disinformation networks connected to the SVR, the New Eastern Outlook and Oriental Review which accommodate a mix of “fringe voices and conspiracy theorists”.
Into the list of designated added nine employees of GRU-directed InfoRos, including General Directors and project directors and editors; four employees of FSB-directed NewsFront. Both channels had been designated back in April, 2021. The designations constitute a second wave in U.S. Treasury’s efforts to target Russia-backed disinformation channels leveraged by the GoR to spread false narratives.
UWI and Geopolitica
Another name that stands out as designated is Darya Aleksandrovna Dugina , the chief editor of United World International (UWI) and the daughter of Aleander Dugin, who was first designated in 2015, for activities threatening peace, security, stability, or sovereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Dugin is also the hand that controls Geopolitica, platform for Russian ultra-nationalists that spread disinformation to target Western audiences. UWI has been designated on grounds of acting for or on behalf of Prigozhin, Dugina is being desianted for acting on behalf of UWI, and Geopolitica, for being controlled or owned by, Dugin.
