Russian elites are back on the menu in EU sanctions, but Ukraine peace talks seem to be headed toward another anticlimax.
Tatyana Kim, Russia’s richest woman and the CEO of online retailer Wildberries, is to face an EU visa-ban and asset-freeze in new sanctions to be agreed by foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday (16 November).
So is Russian gold-mining baron Ruslan Baysarov, Russian venture capitalist Alexander Chachava, and real-estate mogul Sergey Matvienko, according to a leaked EU proposal seen by EUobserver.
They are on a list of 137 individuals and entities to be added to an existing EU blacklist of over 4,600 names.
The Kim listing shows oligarchs are not off the hook, no matter how many cases they file in the EU Court of Justice and even if some of them manage to wriggle off in mysterious deals.
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The new sanctions also name 49 Russian banks and a leading insurance firm, Balance Insurance.
And they strike at global enablers of Russia’s oil trade in the Middle East and further afield.
The upcoming blacklist is to include 13 oil trade and shipping firms in the UAE, three in China, one in the Seychelles, and one in Singapore, said to be helping Russian president Vladimir Putin keep oil dollars flowing.
But if this was meant to show strength, it could have been stronger.
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Russian elites are back on the menu in EU sanctions, but Ukraine peace talks seem to be headed toward another anticlimax.
Tatyana Kim, Russia’s richest woman and the CEO of online retailer Wildberries, is to face an EU visa-ban and asset-freeze in new sanctions to be agreed by foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday (16 November).
So is Russian gold-mining baron Ruslan Baysarov, Russian venture capitalist Alexander Chachava, and real-estate mogul Sergey Matvienko, according to a leaked EU proposal seen by EUobserver.
They are on a list of 137 individuals and entities to be added to an existing EU blacklist of over 4,600 names.
The Kim listing shows oligarchs are not off the hook, no matter how many cases they file in the EU Court of Justice and even if some of them manage to wriggle off in mysterious deals.
The new sanctions also name 49 Russian banks and a leading insurance firm, Balance Insurance.
And they strike at global enablers of Russia's oil trade in the Middle East and further afield.
The upcoming blacklist is to include 13 oil trade and shipping firms in the UAE, three in China, one in the Seychelles, and one in Singapore, said to be helping Russian president Vladimir Putin keep oil dollars flowing.
But if this was meant to show strength, it could have been stronger.