INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The White House announced sanctions Wednesday targeting Russia's top public and private banks and two daughters of Vladimir Putin, adding
more pressure on the country's economy and its elite over the invasion of Ukraine.The new sanctions targeted Maria Vorontsova and Katerina
Tikhonova, two adult daughters of Putin's with his former wife Lyudmila Shkrebneva.Also hit with new sanctions were the wife and daughter
Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin."These individuals have enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people
statement."We believe that many of Putin's assets are hidden with family members, and that's why we're targeting them," a senior United
States official told reporters, referring to the two daughters.The White House also declared "full blocking" sanctions on Russia's
largest public and private financial institutions, Sberbank and Alfa Bank, and said all new United States investment in Russia was now
prohibited.And it said that new sanctions would be announced tomorrow on key Russian state enterprises, aiming to hamper their ability to
trade and move money through the global financial system."The sickening brutality in Bucha has made tragically clear the despicable nature
of the Putin regime," the official said, referring to evidence of deliberate murder of civilians by Russian forces in a suburb of
Kyiv."Today, in alignment with G7 allies and partners, we are intensifying the most severe sanctions ever levied on a major economy," the
official said on grounds of anonymity.
