The list of Russians against whom the United States imposed sanctions on March 20 included, in addition to 16 government officials, “members of the inner circle of the Russian leadership,” according to the website of the US Treasury Department. We are talking about businessmen Gennady Timchenko (No. 61 in the global ranking of billionaires according to Forbes, net worth: $15.3 billion), Yuri Kovalchuk (No. 1210, net worth: $1.4 billion), Arkady Rotenberg (No. 375, net worth: $4 billion) and Boris Rotenberg (No. 1046, net worth: $1.7 billion), as well as about Rossiya Bank, controlled by Kovalchuk, follows from the message. Sanctions against them are imposed in connection with the provision of “material or other support to a high-ranking official of the Russian government,” the message says.

“Timchenko’s activities in the energy sector are directly related to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. Putin has investments in Gunvor and may have access to Gunvor funds,” the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

Arkady and Boris Rotenberg “provided support for Putin’s favorite projects, receiving and fulfilling expensive contracts at the Sochi Olympics and with state-controlled Gazprom,” the Ministry of Finance notes. Yuri Kovalchuk is the largest shareholder of Bank Rossiya, as well as “a personal banker for high-ranking officials of the Russian Federation, including Putin,” the American department said. “Kovalchuk is a close adviser to President Putin and was mentioned as one of his ‘cashiers,’” the statement said.

The Ministry of Finance calls Bank Rossiya the “personal bank” of high-ranking Russian officials. “Bank Rossiya's shareholders include members of Putin's inner circle associated with the Ozero dacha cooperative, the housing society where they live,” the US Treasury said in a statement.

The imposition of sanctions means that all assets of these persons located in the jurisdiction of the United States must be frozen. In addition, transactions involving sanctioned individuals or entities are prohibited in the United States or by US citizens.

The press service of the oil trader Gunvor, of which Gennady Timchenko is a shareholder, has already denied the statement of the US Treasury about ties with the Russian President. "Gunvor categorically denies that Vladimir Putin has or has ever had any interest in, or that he is a beneficiary of, our business, directly or indirectly. This statement is completely false and outrageous," the company said in a statement published by the Financial Times. .

On March 20, the United States imposed sanctions against 20 Russians and Rossiya Bank. In addition to Timchenko, the Rotenbergs and Kovalchuk, the sanctions list includes 15 Kremlin officials, parliamentarians and security officials and the head of one state-owned company - Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin (No. 9 in the ranking of the 25 most expensive top managers in Russia according to Forbes, total compensation - $15 million ). As the US Treasury Department stated, sanctions against Yakunin were imposed in connection with his “position in the Russian government.” At the same time, the Treasury noted that the head of Russian Railways “is a close confidant of Putin,” “regularly consults with Putin on issues related to the Russian Railways company,” “accompanies Putin on many domestic and international visits.” “Also Yakunin and Putin were neighbors in an elite dacha village on the shores of Lake Komsomolskoye and in November 1996 they became co-founders of the dacha cooperative “Ozero,” the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

In 2011, Novaya Gazeta published a list of founders of the dacha cooperative "Ozero" (Leningrad Region) from 1997, which included Vladimir Putin (in 2011 he served as Prime Minister of Russia), the head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin, banker Yuri Kovalchuk and Andrei Fursenko (in 2011 - Minister of Education and Science). The publication wrote that Putin’s neighbors on the “Lake”, as he advanced in politics, significantly increased their financial well-being and reached career heights. The Kremlin and the government did not confirm the information that Putin was a co-founder of Ozer. Vladimir Yakunin, in an interview with the Prime agency in September 2013 , said that the shareholders of the Ozero dacha cooperative “were a small group of people united by common interests, and, of course, devoted to their country, who wanted to make it good.”

Read also the interview with the President of Russian Railways to Forbes: Vladimir Yakunin: “Sanctions from the West look hysterical”

The US Treasury explained sanctions against Russian billionaires