American Sanctions Are Getting Closer to Putin
They include oligarchs and Russian officials.
Even though Donald Trump himself has encouraged better relations with the Russians, his administration keeps finding new ways to punish them. It has sanctioned Russians; expelled Russians; and then sanctioned more Russians. And the new round of sanctions announced on Friday brings the punishment ever closer to Vladimir Putin himself.
That’s because in contrast to sanctions issued in March, against Russian hackers and intelligence agencies, sanctions announced Friday attack theoligarchs close to Putin. A senior administration official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said the action was in response to “the totality of the Russian government’s ongoing and increasingly brazen patterns of malign activity around the world.”
