The United States on Wednesday announced a new list of sanctions on Russia that includes sanctions for the first time to the two daughters of the president of Russia Vladimir Putin.

The formal announcement was released by the White House in a statement, indicating that steps had been taken in coordination with the G7 and the European Union. In addition to Putin’s daughters, The US and its allies have imposed an economic blockade on two major Russian banks and paralyzed investments in Russia.

Katerina Tikhonovna and Maria Putina, who are in their 30s, are rarely seen in public and almost never mentioned by their father. They are almost a mystery and the Kremlin only recognized them by their first names.

“We believe that many of Putin’s assets is hidden from family membersand that’s why we’re targeting them, ”said a senior administration official Joe Biden who spoke to reporters to preview the sanctions.

In addition to Putin’s daughters, the United States will punish the wife and daughter Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Former Russian President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will also be subject to sanctions, the White House announced.

Beyond individual penalties, two of the largest banks in RussiaSberbank and Alfa Bank, will also be subject to total block sanctions for the first time.

What else, ban new investments in Russia to any U.S. citizen and blocks business with Russian state-owned companies, while cooling Russian assets into U.S. jurisdiction.

With the battery of sanctions applied by the US and its allies since the invasion of Ukraine, “Russia will lose its position as an economic power and will continue its long slide towards economic, financial and technological separation, ”the White House warned. And these restrictions, they point out, will affect the resources needed “for Putin’s war machine.”

Daughters, a mystery

Putin not speaking publicly about his family but, according to the Kremlin, he has two daughters by his first wife, Lyudmila Shkrebnevawhich remained virtually non -existent in public life, to the point that many Russians They don’t know what they are.

According to the magazine Forbes, Maria Putina is a co-owner of Nomeko, a company involved in building a cancer center on the outskirts of St. Louis. Petersburg, and Katerina Tikhonova heads an artificial intelligence institute at Moscow State University.

It is not known if the Russian leader has other children.

In 2013, the couple said their marriage was over. The following year, the Kremlin confirmed that the Russian president had ended the divorce process from his wife after a marriage of nearly 30 years.

With these sanctions, Washington seeks to continue to attack members of The inner circle of the leader of Russia, in response to reports of atrocities alleged by Ukrainian officials committed by Russian troops in Ukraine and denied by Moscow. The Bucha killings hastened this response.

“As Russia continues its brutal attack on Ukraine, we will stand in solidarity with our allies and partners in imposing additional costs on Russia for its actions,” the White House said.

Washington, correspondent

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