BREAKING: US releases ‘Kremlin List’ of top Russian officials for possible sanctions

In accordance with the requirements of a new Russia sanctions bill passed by the US congress in July of last year, Donald Trump’s White House has released a list of high ranking Russians who could be subjected to punitive measures by the US.

The list includes 114 Russian politicians and 96 businessmen. The list includes virtually everyone holding a position of authority in the Russian government, except for Vladimir Putin himself. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev, and Presidential Spokesman Dimitry Peskov are all on the list.

Sputnik reports the following persons are also included:

First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, Deputy Prime Ministers Vitaly Mutko, Dmitry Rogozin, Arkady Dvorkovich, as well as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin, Energy Minister Aleksander Novak, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Internal Affairs Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Transport Minister, Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov and 17 more senior cabinet members are included in the document.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has also been included in the so-called Kremlin report. It also includes the Russian Defense, Economic Development, Energy, Finance, Industry and Interior Ministries. The head of Russia’s leading bank Sberbank, German Gref, is also in the newly released list.

According to the document, Presidential Administration Head Anton Vaino, his first Deputies Alexei Gromov and Sergei Kiriyenko, Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, Presidential aides Vladislav Surkov, Yury Ushakov, Vladimir Kozhin and Andrei Fursenko, as well as 35 other senior officials of the presidential administration are included in the document.

In releasing the list, Trump barely complied with the legally mandated deadline to do so, which was Monday.

In the business sector, the US purported to name those it considers “oligarchs.” The criteria the Treasury Department used, as well as who was included, was reportedly as follows:

“To determine the list of oligarchs, the Department of the Treasury enumerated those individuals who, according reliable public sources, have an estimated net worth of $1 billion or more,” the document read.

Businessmen Oleg Deripaska, Vladimir Bogdanov, Filaret Galchev, as well as Magnit retailer founder Sergey Galitsky and LUKoil Vice President Leonid Fedun are among those Russian “oligarchs” added to the list.

Washington stressed that no one on the list was as yet barred from traveling to the US or meeting with or having dealings with US citizens. But they could be susceptible to such actions in the future.

Treasury also included a “classified annex” to the report listing additional persons holding lowers positions in the Russian government or having a net worth less than $1 billion.

Moscow has slammed the release as an attempted to interfere in Russia’s presidential election, scheduled for March 18th. And Russia’s ambassador in Washington denounced sanctions as “a road to nowhere.”

Also on Monday, the US State Department notified Congress that it would not now impose additional sanctions on Russia as required by the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) passed in July and grudgingly signed by President Trump August 2nd.

State claimed that the threat of further sanctions was currently serving as sufficient deterrent to any aggressive action the Kremlin might take, including damaging Russia’s defense exports to the tune of billions.