Nepotism Comes Back to Bite Russia as Sanctions Hit Putin Allies, Relatives

Russian President Vladimir Putin's cousin, Anna Tsivileva, and the son of former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Ilya Medvedev, are among those hit by fresh sanctions in a 12th package adopted by the European Union Council against Russia.

A total of 61 people and 86 organizations were sanctioned on Monday, according to a list published by the European Commission. Putin's relative, Tsivileva, chairs the "defenders of the fatherland" foundation that supports Russian soldiers participating in Putin's ongoing war in Ukraine.

The former Russian president's son, Medvedev, is accused of "creating digital services in the illegally occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia."

Also sanctioned are 14 members of the Central Election Commission of Russia.

The sanctions package also includes a ban on the import, purchase, or transfer of diamonds from Russia beginning on January 1, 2024, and tightens the enforcement of a Western price cap on Russian oil, at $60 a barrel. The Kremlin hasn't responded to the latest sanctions package. Newsweek reached out to Russia's Foreign Ministry via email for comment on Tuesday.

The European Council said the measures "deliver a further blow to Putin's ability to wage war by targeting high-value sectors of the Russian economy and making it more difficult to circumvent EU sanctions."

"With this 12th package, we are putting forward a robust set of new listings and economic measures which will further weaken Russia's war machine," Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said in a statement.

"Our message is clear, as I already stated when I chaired the informal Foreign Affairs Council in Kyiv: we remain steadfast in our commitment to Ukraine and will continue to support its fight for freedom and sovereignty," Borrell added.

On January 31, Medvedev, former Russian president and deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, said "infernal" sanctions imposed by the West have failed to damage Russia's economy.

"Hostile countries are not courageous enough to recognize that their 'infernal' sanctions fell flat. [They] don't work," Medvedev said on his Telegram channel. "The vast majority of industrial products and consumer goods have been replaced with domestic ones and the missing ones - by Asian brands."

However, last month, Russian billionaire businessman Oleg Deripaska, described as Putin's favorite oligarch, said that Russia's economy is about to "hit the ice."

The businessman, whose fortune Forbes estimates at $2.4 billion, issued the warning in a post on his Telegram channel. He added that there is a general drop in commodity prices, including those that Russia exports, and that this could negatively impact the country's economy.

The IMF forecasts that the Russian economy will grow by 2.2 percent this year after shrinking by 2.1 percent last year, though it sees GDP growth slowing to 1.1 percent in 2024.

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