Alisher Usmanov and other billionaires may fall under EU sanctions

The European Union is discussing the introduction of sanctions against Russia's richest businessmen, as well as a number of officials, Bloomberg has reported. Several Russian billionaires are mentioned in the list: Alisher Usmanov, the largest shareholder of USM Holding, Mikhail Fridman and Peter Aven, owners of Alfa Group, and Alexey Mordashov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Severstal. The list has not yet been approved by the authorities of European countries in the final version, the agency emphasizes.

The EU also intends to include top managers of the largest Russian state-owned companies in the sanctions list — for example, the head of Rosneft Igor Sechin and the head of Transneft Nikolay Tokarev.

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrel, said that the EU countries agreed to extend restrictions to new companies and people. The list will be adopted at the meeting of the ambassadors of the member states of the Union. "This will include Russian oligarchs and businessmen, whose inclusion in the sanctions list will greatly affect the economy, as well as political figures playing key roles in Putin's government," Borrel said.

The US has not yet announced new sanctions. However, the White House emphasizes that "none of the Russian oligarchs or their families are protected from sanctions."

Western countries began to sharply expand sanctions against Russian individuals and companies after the start of a "special military operation" in Ukraine. Several large banks, including VTB, Sberbank, and Sovcombank, were sanctioned.