RUSSIA’S elite had been on edge for months. A new American law on sanctions, passed last summer, required the administration to draw up lists of senior officials and “oligarchs” close to Vladimir Putin’s regime. Though inclusion on the list would not automatically lead to sanctions, many feared that it would be tantamount to a scarlet letter. Businessmen hired lawyers and lobbyists to press their case in Washington. Some considered bringing capital back to Russia, fearing asset freezes and seizures.
Then early this week the list came out, and sniggering ensued—on both sides of the Atlantic. Just over 100 senior government officials were named. Keen commentators noted that the selection closely matched publicly available lists on the English-language version of the Kremlin website. Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the foreign-affairs committee of the upper house of parliament, said that the administration appeared to have “copied the Kremlin’s phone book”. Another 96 big businessmen were singled out; the entirety, in fact, of the...Continue reading
Souce: Europe http://ift.tt/2E7dSEQ
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