Russia’s youngest billionaire once married to Putin’s daughter, the chairman of a bank with links to the Salisbury novichok poisoning and the son of the President’s long-serving spy chief are among those now facing UK sanctions.
The government says over 100 people, entities and subsidiaries will be subject to sanctions, including defence giant Rostec.
There will be travel bans and asset restrictions on five more named individuals – including Kirill Shamalov, Petr Fradkov, Denis Bortnikov, Yuri Slyusar and Elena Aleksandrovna Georgieva.
The sanctions were implemented in a 10-strand package of measures designed to inflict ‘significant’ impact on Moscow’s economy – with officials saying they should knock several percentage points off its GDP.
Boris Johnson told MPs that Putin was flouting ‘every principle of civilised behaviour’ and will ‘never be able to cleanse the blood of Ukraine from his hands’ – even though Ukrainians are ‘offering a fierce defence’.
He insisted the world now saw the Russian president for what he is: ‘A bloodstained aggressor who believes in imperial conquest.’
The assets of all major Russian banks – including VTB – will be frozen, while new legislation will block the state and all the country’s major firms from being able to raise money on London markets.
Compiled below is a detailed list of the five oligarchs targeted by Mr Johnson’s ‘largest and most severe’ sanctions against Russia.
Kirill Shamalov
Russia’s youngest billionaire, 39, was married to Putin’s daughter Katerina Tikhonova (both pictured above, at their wedding) for five years from 2013 to 2018
Russia’s youngest billionaire, 39, was married to Putin’s daughter Katerina Tikhonova for five years from 2013 to 2018, making him the President’s former son-in-law.
The photographs from Shamalov and Katerina’s three-day nuptials at the Igora ski resort in Russia in 2013 break Putin’s taboo over never revealing details of his family life.
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny branded the deal a ‘$380 million wedding gift’, intimating high level corruption.
Kirill’s father Nickolai co-owns the Rossiya bank, which was sanctioned by the UK earlier this week.
His fortunes began to skyrocket soon after his wedding to the president’s daughter, a competitive acrobatic dancer who helped oversee a $1.7billion expansion of Moscow State University.
Within 18 months, Kirill acquired a large chunk of shares in a major Russian oil and petrochemical processor called Sibur – a stake worth an estimated $2.85billion in 2015.
But he is believed to have lost half his wealth when they divorced in 2018.
Petr Fradkov
Petr Fradkov, 43, is the son of Mikhail Fradkov, a former prime minister of Russia and former director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)
London-educated 43-year-old chairman and CEO of Promsvyazbank (PSB) bank.
He is the son of Mikhail Fradkov, a former prime minister of Russia and former director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
He was made subject to US sanctions earlier this week by the US Treasury.
‘Since 2018, Petr Fradkov has worked to transform PSB into a bank that services the defense industry and supports state defense contracts,’ a spokesman said.
‘In his role as chairman and CEO of PSB, Petr Fradkov has held working meetings with Putin and participated in roundtable discussions in international forums in which he forecasts the PSB’s long-term strategic plans for supporting the Russian defense industry.’
Fradkov is also the general director of the Russian Export Center.
Petr Fradkov’s bank, PSB, was also sanctioned.
The state-owned bank – nationalized in 2018 – is Russia’s eighth largest financial institution.
Denis Bortnikov
Denis Bortnikov’s father Aleksandr has since 2008 been the director of Russia’s intelligence service, the FSB – the successor to the KGB
Deputy president of Russian-state owned financial institution VTB Bank since 2017.
His father Aleksandr Bortnikov, 70, has since 2008 been the director of Russia’s intelligence service, the FSB – the successor to the KGB.
Putin and Bortnikov senior both joined the then-KGB in St Petersburg in 1975, with Putin leaving as a lieutenant colonel in 1991 to enter politics, while Bortnikov remained inside and rose up the ranks.
The elder Bortnikov is one of the infamous ‘siloviki’ – former and current state-security officers with personal ties to the Soviet-era KGB and its successor agencies, who serve as Putin’s trusted henchmen.
The Foreign Office said: ‘Bortnikov is the son of Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) which was responsible for the poisoning of political activist Alexey Navalny in August 2020 with a banned chemical agent from the Novichok group.’
Yuri Slyusar
Between 2011-2013, Yuri Slyusar was a member of the Board of Directors of Irkut Corporation, which produced helicopters
President of Russia’s United Aircraft Corp and a former deputy trade minister.
Between 2011-2013, Yuri was a member of the Board of Directors of Irkut Corporation, which produced helicopters.
The UAC is a major Russian defence contractor which manufactures Mig and Sukhoi fighter jets among other products including passenger jets.
Its majority shareholder is the Russian government.
Elena Aleksandrovna Georgieva
Born in Moscow in February 1977, Elena Aleksandrovna Georgieva studied world economy at the Russian State University for the Humanities and graduated in 1999
Chief executive of Novikombank, a state-owned defence conglomerate.
Born in Moscow in February 1977, she studied world economy at the Russian State University for the Humanities and graduated in 1999.
She went on to work in the financial sphere before becoming chairwoman at Novikombank in 2016.
