The US Treasury presented this Wednesday, March 16, to a new international organization, a list of 50 members of the Russian elite that the US considers a priority for implementing new sanctions, as world order forces intensify their search for oligarchic assets linked to the Kremlin.

What we are talking about? US officials provide list to the REPO Elite, Proxies and Russian Oligarch working group.

• The new multinational body engaged the US and more than half a dozen allied nations for the group’s first meeting.

• The Treasury Department released 28 of the 50 names on the list, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, among other high-ranking government officials.
• The authorities do not want the names of the other oligarchs who have been sanctioned known in advance, as that could help them avoid sanctions.

Why is it relevant? The task force will pool the resources of the country’s law enforcement division to track down the assets of the Russian oligarchs hidden abroad, a task complicated by opaque financial instruments often used by Russia’s elite.

• Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and Attorney General Merrick Garland joined a virtual meeting of the new international task force Wednesday morning. The multinational working group includes representatives from the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Commission.
• The Justice Department has also announced a separate effort, called the KleptoCapture Task Force, to coordinate various law enforcement agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Southern District of New York, in an effort to find out where Russian sanctions are keeping their assets.

The numbers speak for themselves. The US has sanctioned more than 200 oligarchs and Russian entities since the invasion of Ukraine, according to estimates by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank. The European Union has also imposed sanctions more than double that number.

Main news sources: Washington Post