Washington: The United States is toughening its sanctions against Russia amid mounting evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, imposing new penalties on financial institutions and family members of Kremlin officials—including Vladimir Putin's two adult daughters.
As per reports, US officials believe that Maria Vorontsova and Katerina Tikhonova are hiding Putin's wealth.
"We believe that many of Putin's assets are hidden with family members, and that's why we're targeting them," said a senior administration official who spoke on background to preview the new measures.
According to details in the U.S. sanctions package announced on Wednesday, Putin's daughter Katerina Vladimirovna Tikhonova is a tech executive whose work supports the Russian government and its defence industry, whereas his other daughter Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova leads government-funded programs that have received billions of dollars from the Kremlin toward genetics research, and are personally overseen by Putin.
Meanwhile, Putin's daughters, have never confirmed publicly the Russian leader is their father, and he has refused to answer questions about them.
Reuters was not immediately able to reach Putin's daughters, their representatives or the Kremlin for comment.
The US said "full blocking" sanctions would also be imposed on the wife and daughter of the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and members of Russia's security council, including the former president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, as per The Guardian's report.
"These individuals have enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people," the administration said. "Some of them are responsible for providing the support necessary to underpin Putin's war on Ukraine. This action cuts them off from the US financial system and freezes any assets they hold in the United States."
Russia denies intentionally attacking civilians and says images of bodies in Bucha north of Kyiv were staged to justify more sanctions against Moscow.
Moscow says it is engaged in a "special military operation" designed to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine. Ukraine and Western governments reject that as a false pretext for Russia's invasion.