The U.S. State Department announced a new round of sanctions on prominent Russians, including an industrial metal tycoon who is one of the country’s wealthiest men.
The sanctions block financial transactions in dollars with the tycoon, Vladimir Potanin. He is the largest shareholder of Russia’s Nornickel, the world’s largest producer of palladium and refined nickel. He is also a former deputy prime minister and “a close associate of” President Vladimir V. Putin, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said in a statement.
The sanctions included Mr. Potanin’s his wife and two adult children. Also targeted was Mr. Potanin’s company, Interros, which the State Department said has “business across nearly all sectors of Russia’s economy.”
The United States also designated Mr. Potanin’s superyacht, Nirvana, as blocked property subject to seizure.
The State Department action also hit five board members of Russia’s state-owned rail company, and included 29 Russian heads of regions and governors.
“These governors oversee and enforce the conscription of citizens in response to Russia’s recent mobilization order,” Mr. Blinken said in his statement.
The sanctions include Oleksii Dykiy, who leads a Russian reconnaissance battalion that participated in the military destruction of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, and who “oversees the operations of filtration camps that facilitate the forced relocation of Ukraine’s citizens to Russia,” Mr. Blinken said.
