US blacklists seven Russian businessmen, eight companies over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine

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Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at an annual meeting marking a professional holiday for Russian security service employees in Moscow. Photo: Pool via AP

Published: 3:03am, 21 Dec 2016Updated: 3:03am, 21 Dec 2016

The United States on Tuesday blacklisted seven Russian businessmen and eight companies and government enterprises over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Ukraine, the US Treasury said in a statement.

The sanctions come a month before US President Barack Obama hands over power to President-elect Donald Trump, who has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and said it would be good if the two countries could get along.

Trump’s nominee for US Secretary of State, Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson, has opposed US sanctions on Russia, which awarded him a friendship medal in 2013.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, now secretary of state-designate, shake hands at a signing ceremony of an agreement between state-controlled Russian oil company Rosneft and ExxonMobil at the Black Sea port of Tuapse, southern Russia. Photo: Pool via AP

In Tuesday’s statement, the US Treasury named seven Russian men, six of whom it said were executives at Bank Rossiya or its affiliates ABR Management and Sobinbank. Bank Rossiya and Sobinbank were sanctioned in 2014, and ABR Management was sanctioned in 2016.

The seventh man, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, has “extensive business dealings” with the Russian defence ministry, Treasury said.

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