Twelve minutes before a midnight deadline on Monday, the Treasury Department released a list of 114 Russian politicians and 96 billionaire "oligarchs" who have prospered enormously under Russian President Vladimir Putin's more than 18 years in power. Congress demanded that the Trump administration release the list by the end of Monday as part of legislation that passed last year with veto-proof majorities in Congress, as punishment for Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Earlier Monday, the State Department said that the Trump administration would not actually punish anybody right now under the sanctions.
The list, intended to name-and-shame Russia's political and economic elite, includes just about everybody who has flourished under Putin, including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the heads of Russia's top intelligence agencies, Cabinet ministers, and the CEOs of state energy giant Rosneft and other top Russian state companies. Along with "Putin's list" of Russia's power-wielders, the 96 "oligarchs" include former Paul Manafort patron Oleg Deripaska, Roman Abramovich, and Mikhail Prokhorov. Some of the 210 individuals are already covered by U.S. sanctions imposed under former President Barack Obama, but none of them currently faces further punishment — other than notoriety — from being on this list.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
August 2 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include a tariff self-own, rough times at the Trump golf course, and more
-
5 inexcusably hilarious cartoons about Ghislaine Maxwell angling for a pardonCartoons Artists take on the circle of life, Ghislaine's Island, and more
-
Ozzy Osbourne obituary: heavy metal wildman and lovable reality TV dadIn the Spotlight For Osbourne, metal was 'not the music of hell but rather the music of Earth, not a fantasy but a survival guide'
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress codespeed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirementspeed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
