EU imposes sanctions on Russian oligarchs; US Sanctions RDIF – International Law

Today, the European Union imposed asset freeze sanctions on a number of prominent Russian oligarchs, two CEOs of Russian energy companies and a number of Russian government officials.

Among the oligarchs targeted are Alexei Mordashov, majority owner of the steelmaker Severstal, Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven who jointly control the Alfa Group, Gennady Timchenko, the founder of the Volga Group, which is already subject to American and British sanctions, and Alisher Usmanov . Today’s action also targeted Igor Sechin and Nikolay Tokarev, the CEOs of Rosneft and Transneft. Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev and a number of other Russian government officials also faced EU sanctions today.

Today’s EU action freezes all funds and economic resources owned, owned, held or controlled by those listed.

Earlier today, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), two of its subsidiaries, and the CEO of RDIF to its list of Specially Designated Nationals (list SDN). The sanctions impose U.S. blocking requirements on RDIF and the various companies in which it directly or indirectly holds a 50% or greater stake. Non-U.S. persons could be exposed to secondary penalties for engaging in “significant” transactions with these parties.

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