(PresidentialHill.com)- The United Kingdom is following in the footsteps of the United States by imposing additional sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters.
Last week the U.S. sanctioned Russian government officials and their families, including Putin’s daughters Katerina Tikhonova, 36, and Mariya Putina, 35. Putin’s daughters’ access to the US financial system was shut off, and whatever assets they had in the US were frozen.
Officials in the United Kingdom have likewise imposed an asset freeze and a travel restriction on Putin’s daughters and the daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, precisely two weeks after identical penalties were imposed on Lavrov’s stepdaughter. The sanctions are aimed specifically designed to cripple their opulent lifestyles.
Authorities say that by freezing the assets and restricting the travel of Putin’s friends and family, the UK Government is preventing funds from supporting the war while also ensuring that those who have benefitted from Putin’s reign bear the consequences.
The claims of Russian soldiers perpetrating suspected war crimes in Bucha, and other places in Ukraine, have caused Western countries to increase sanctions against Putin. According to a recent study, the sanctions placed on Russia in the weeks following its invasion froze the bulk of the government’s foreign currency reserves, sparked rapid inflation, and pushed the country into a catastrophic recession.
According to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, UK’s unprecedented sanctions are striking the elite and their families while damaging the Russian economy on a scale Russia hasn’t seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, she did say that more has to be done to hold Russia responsible and reduce Putin’s war funds and that the UK is working with allies through the G-7 to phase out Russian energy consumption.
Putin has tried to keep his family’s whereabouts a closely guarded secret. Going after his daughters can be a two-pronged strategy for hamstringing him. It’s not a subject he enjoys discussing, but he also has taken steps to provide them with an elite lifestyle.
Rather than be seen as a family man, Putin would prefer to appear in military circumstances or on the back of a horse, shirtless, to project authority. In many respects, family is a source of vulnerability. If a lot is known about his daughters, he is exposed to someone being able to do something to him.
