In strike against Putin, US imposes sanctions on businessmen close to Kremlin
The United States imposed major sanctions on Friday against 24 Russians, striking at allies of President Vladimir Putin in one of Washington's most aggressive moves to punish Moscow for what it called a range of "malign activity," including alleged meddling in the 2016 US election.
The action, taken under pressure from the US Congress, freezes the US assets of "oligarchs" such as aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska, a close associate of Putin, and lawmaker Suleiman Kerimov, whose family controls Russia's largest gold producer, Polyus.
The sanctions are largely a reply to what US intelligence agencies say was Russian interference in the presidential election, although the Treasury Department painted them as a response to a series of adversarial actions by Moscow.
