The U.S. Treasury Department unveiled additional sanctions on Dec. 15, targeting Russian companies and officials, including oligarch Vladimir Potanin, the owner of Interros with large stakes in mining, metals, energy, finance, and retail.
Apart from Potanin and Interros, the sanctions also targeted Potanin's wife, two children, and a yacht connected to the oligarch.
The U.K. sanctioned Potanin earlier in June, describing him as "Russia's second richest man."
The latest U.S. sanctions were also imposed on 17 companies connected with the Russian VTB Bank and a number of Russian officials, including Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov.
Earlier on Dec. 9, the U.S. Department of State sanctioned Pavlo Vovk, head of Ukraine's Kyiv District Administrative Court, "for soliciting bribes in return for interfering in judicial and other public processes," the department said in a statement. "As part of this action, two immediate family members are also designated."
Vovk has become a symbol of injustice, lawlessness, and impunity in Ukraine. Cases against him have been blocked and sabotaged by prosecutors, investigators, and courts for several years.
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