.png)
The Biden administration is escalating efforts to punish Russia amid global alarm over civilian deaths, imposing new sanctions that will include two of the country’s largest banks as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adult children, said White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese.
View live politics updatesThe announcement comes as NATO foreign ministers are gathering in Brussels beginning Wednesday for discussions that include how to continue support for Ukraine, and to end fighting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded a tougher E.U. response Wednesday and criticized leaders who “still think war crimes are not as horrific as financial losses.” Leaders in Ukraine say the grim killings in Bucha are not the exception. The withdrawal of Russian forces in other parts of the country has revealed looted homes and shootings of civilians.
Here’s what to know
Key update
White House widens sanctions on Russia, targeting Putin’s children
Return to menuLink copied
White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said Wednesday that the administration is announcing a new round of sanctions on Russia, penalties that would target the adult children of President Vladimir Putin and two of the country’s largest banks.
Deese said the new sanctions on Sberbank and Alfa Bank would come with a new U.S. prohibition on all inbound investment in Russia by any Americans, as well as sanctions on several state-owned Russian enterprises, including an aircraft and shipbuilding corporation. The steps are being announced in coordination with the Group of Seven and the European Union. New sanctions also will be imposed on members of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s family.
The announcements come amid escalating pressure on the West from Ukrainian leaders to move more swiftly to target Russia’s economy amid reports of civilian massacres in the suburbs of Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine. The White House banned U.S. purchases of Russian energy, but Europe continues to buy substantial quantities of Russian oil and gas. The United States has also held off on sanctioning international Russian energy transactions, as global energy prices have already shot up since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said Wednesday that the administration is announcing a new round of sanctions on Russia, penalties that would target the adult children of President Vladimir Putin and two of the country’s largest banks.
Deese said the new sanctions on Sberbank and Alfa Bank would come with a new U.S. prohibition on all inbound investment in Russia by any Americans, as well as sanctions on several state-owned Russian enterprises, including an aircraft and shipbuilding corporation. The steps are being announced in coordination with the Group of Seven and the European Union. New sanctions also will be imposed on members of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s family.
The announcements come amid escalating pressure on the West from Ukrainian leaders to move more swiftly to target Russia’s economy amid reports of civilian massacres in the suburbs of Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine. The White House banned U.S. purchases of Russian energy, but Europe continues to buy substantial quantities of Russian oil and gas. The United States has also held off on sanctioning international Russian energy transactions, as global energy prices have already shot up since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Arson suspected at Italian villa belonging to Russian state TV anchor
Return to menuLink copied
ROME — A villa on the hills around Italy’s Lake Como that belongs to prominent Russian state television anchor Vladimir Solovyov was the target of arson in the early hours of Wednesday, Italian investigators said.
The unknown attackers caused only limited damage to the property, which was under renovation and is located in the northern town of Menaggio.
On the same night, graffiti calling Solovyov a “killer” was found on the outside wall of yet another of his houses, a dozen miles to the north in the town of Pianello del Lario. At this location, red paint was dumped in the pool, said an Italian investigator, speaking to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter freely.
The houses are two of three Como-based properties belonging to Solovyov, a key propagandist for the Kremlin. The assets, worth about 8 million euros (or almost $9 million) in total, have already been frozen by the Italian government.
“Suddenly someone makes a decision that this journalist is now on the list of sanctions. And right away it affects your real estate,” the Daily Beast quoted Solovyov as having complained on Russian television. “Wait a minute. But you told us that Europe has sacred property rights.”
ROME — A villa on the hills around Italy’s Lake Como that belongs to prominent Russian state television anchor Vladimir Solovyov was the target of arson in the early hours of Wednesday, Italian investigators said.
The unknown attackers caused only limited damage to the property, which was under renovation and is located in the northern town of Menaggio.
On the same night, graffiti calling Solovyov a “killer” was found on the outside wall of yet another of his houses, a dozen miles to the north in the town of Pianello del Lario. At this location, red paint was dumped in the pool, said an Italian investigator, speaking to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter freely.
The houses are two of three Como-based properties belonging to Solovyov, a key propagandist for the Kremlin. The assets, worth about 8 million euros (or almost $9 million) in total, have already been frozen by the Italian government.
“Suddenly someone makes a decision that this journalist is now on the list of sanctions. And right away it affects your real estate,” the Daily Beast quoted Solovyov as having complained on Russian television. “Wait a minute. But you told us that Europe has sacred property rights.”
7 in 10 Americans say they see Russia as an enemy, poll finds
Return to menuLink copied
There has been a marked shift in public opinion on Russia since its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, with 70 percent of Americans saying they consider Russia an enemy of the United States, a Pew Research Center survey has found.
The findings mark a jump from January, when 41 percent said the same, according to Pew. There is also a narrow partisan gap on the topic, with 72 percent of Democrats and 69 percent of Republicans saying they consider Russia an enemy.
Overall, 7 percent of respondents expressed a favorable opinion of Russia, while 6 percent expressed confidence in Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The poll surveyed 3,581 U.S. adults from March 21 to March 27, more than three weeks after Russia launched the invasion — weeks that have been marked by increasingly brutal fighting and a worsening humanitarian and refugee crisis.
Last month, a poll by the Wall Street Journal found that 90 percent of registered U.S. voters surveyed had an unfavorable view of Putin, compared with 4 percent who expressed a favorable view.
There has been a marked shift in public opinion on Russia since its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, with 70 percent of Americans saying they consider Russia an enemy of the United States, a Pew Research Center survey has found.
The findings mark a jump from January, when 41 percent said the same, according to Pew. There is also a narrow partisan gap on the topic, with 72 percent of Democrats and 69 percent of Republicans saying they consider Russia an enemy.
Overall, 7 percent of respondents expressed a favorable opinion of Russia, while 6 percent expressed confidence in Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The poll surveyed 3,581 U.S. adults from March 21 to March 27, more than three weeks after Russia launched the invasion — weeks that have been marked by increasingly brutal fighting and a worsening humanitarian and refugee crisis.
Last month, a poll by the Wall Street Journal found that 90 percent of registered U.S. voters surveyed had an unfavorable view of Putin, compared with 4 percent who expressed a favorable view.
Drone video shows trenches in radioactive Chernobyl exclusion zone
Return to menuLink copied
Video shared on April 6 shows trenches near the power plant allegedly dug by Russian soldiers. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: The Washington Post)
A drone video verified by The Washington Post shows trenches in the forest near the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear plant. The recording was published Wednesday on the Telegram channel of Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned atomic energy enterprise. According to Energoatom, Russian soldiers dug the pits in the Chernobyl exclusion zone — the approximately 1,000 square miles surrounding the site where radioactive contamination is highest — during their occupation.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that the Russian troops seized the plant on Feb. 24 but were gone as of March 31. Satellite imagery from Planet Labs taken March 16 shows trenches in the same location seen in the drone video recording. The trenches do not appear in imagery captured Feb. 26.
The IAEA said in a post Thursday that it had not been able to confirm reports of Russian forces receiving high doses of radiation while in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
“I remain skeptical that Russian soldiers would have been exposed to radiation at high enough dose rates … to cause acute illness, even if they were digging trenches,” Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement.
“That said, the soldiers should not have been conducting operations in the area without taking appropriate radiation protection measures, and they may well have received effective doses high enough to significantly increase their cancer risk in the long-term.”
Video shared on April 6 shows trenches near the power plant allegedly dug by Russian soldiers. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: The Washington Post)
A drone video verified by The Washington Post shows trenches in the forest near the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear plant. The recording was published Wednesday on the Telegram channel of Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned atomic energy enterprise. According to Energoatom, Russian soldiers dug the pits in the Chernobyl exclusion zone — the approximately 1,000 square miles surrounding the site where radioactive contamination is highest — during their occupation.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that the Russian troops seized the plant on Feb. 24 but were gone as of March 31. Satellite imagery from Planet Labs taken March 16 shows trenches in the same location seen in the drone video recording. The trenches do not appear in imagery captured Feb. 26.
The IAEA said in a post Thursday that it had not been able to confirm reports of Russian forces receiving high doses of radiation while in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
“I remain skeptical that Russian soldiers would have been exposed to radiation at high enough dose rates … to cause acute illness, even if they were digging trenches,” Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement.
“That said, the soldiers should not have been conducting operations in the area without taking appropriate radiation protection measures, and they may well have received effective doses high enough to significantly increase their cancer risk in the long-term.”
Netherlands bars 14 yachts from leaving country
Return to menuLink copied
Dutch authorities have barred 14 yachts from leaving the country on suspicion that at least some of the boats could be owned by Russians on a European sanctions list, the Dutch Foreign Ministry told lawmakers in a letter.
A dozen of the yachts are under construction at shipyards in the Netherlands, and their ownership structures are being investigated, according to the letter. Two other yachts that were undergoing maintenance have been put under similar restrictions.
The territory of the Netherlands extends to several Caribbean islands. Dutch officials have frozen about $562 million in Russian-linked assets and blocked $168 million worth of transactions, the government said.
Dutch authorities have barred 14 yachts from leaving the country on suspicion that at least some of the boats could be owned by Russians on a European sanctions list, the Dutch Foreign Ministry told lawmakers in a letter.
A dozen of the yachts are under construction at shipyards in the Netherlands, and their ownership structures are being investigated, according to the letter. Two other yachts that were undergoing maintenance have been put under similar restrictions.
The territory of the Netherlands extends to several Caribbean islands. Dutch officials have frozen about $562 million in Russian-linked assets and blocked $168 million worth of transactions, the government said.
About 400 people unaccounted for in Hostomel, official says
Return to menuLink copied
A senior military official from Hostomel, a suburb northwest of Kyiv, says about 400 people remain missing and unaccounted for since the town was retaken by Ukrainian forces from Russian occupation.
“During the 35 days of the occupation, we had more than 400 [people] missing,” said Taras Dumenko, head of Hostomel military administration, in an interview Tuesday with Ukrainian radio. “We have confirmed contact with about 1,200 residents,” he added.
Dumenko accused Russian forces of killing civilians and destroying “entire residential areas.” The Washington Post could not independently verify those claims.
He said the town, home to about 17,000 people before the war, was recaptured by Ukrainian forces on April 1. Russia has been withdrawing troops from northern Ukraine and refocusing its efforts in the east and south of the country.
The city remains under curfew, he added, with some residents choosing to remain in shelters and basements, many with little water, fuel or medication, he added.
Hostomel is about 2½ miles from Bucha, where reports of mass killings and images of bodies strewn in the streets — some with hands tied behind their backs — sparked global condemnation earlier this week. President Biden and other world leaders have called the events there a “war crime” and are seeking tougher sanctions on Moscow. The Kremlin has claimed that evidence of atrocities in Bucha are fabricated.
A senior military official from Hostomel, a suburb northwest of Kyiv, says about 400 people remain missing and unaccounted for since the town was retaken by Ukrainian forces from Russian occupation.
“During the 35 days of the occupation, we had more than 400 [people] missing,” said Taras Dumenko, head of Hostomel military administration, in an interview Tuesday with Ukrainian radio. “We have confirmed contact with about 1,200 residents,” he added.
Dumenko accused Russian forces of killing civilians and destroying “entire residential areas.” The Washington Post could not independently verify those claims.
He said the town, home to about 17,000 people before the war, was recaptured by Ukrainian forces on April 1. Russia has been withdrawing troops from northern Ukraine and refocusing its efforts in the east and south of the country.
The city remains under curfew, he added, with some residents choosing to remain in shelters and basements, many with little water, fuel or medication, he added.
Hostomel is about 2½ miles from Bucha, where reports of mass killings and images of bodies strewn in the streets — some with hands tied behind their backs — sparked global condemnation earlier this week. President Biden and other world leaders have called the events there a “war crime” and are seeking tougher sanctions on Moscow. The Kremlin has claimed that evidence of atrocities in Bucha are fabricated.
Justice Dept. charges Russian oligarch with sanctions violations
Return to menuLink copied
Federal prosecutors have charged a Russian oligarch who supported separatists in Ukraine with sanctions violations for trying to secretly acquire and run media outlets across Europe, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Wednesday.
At a news conference, Garland said the United States had unsealed an indictment against Konstantin Malofeyev. He said the Treasury Department had identified Malofeyev as “one of the main sources of financing for Russians promoting separatism in Crimea,” a Ukrainian territory that Russia took over in 2014. Garland alleged that Malofeyev had provided “material support” to the Donetsk People’s Republic, a separatist government in eastern Ukraine. After being sanctioned, Garland said, Malofeyev tried to use co-conspirators to acquire the media outlets.
Separately, Garland said the United States had disrupted a global botnet — a network of hacked computers — that was controlled by the Russian military intelligence agency known as the GRU. He said the botnet had been disrupted before it could be used but said the Russian government had used similar infrastructure to attack Ukrainian targets.
The U.S. actions, Garland said, should send a message to Russia.
“It does not matter how far you sail your yacht. It does not matter how well you conceal your assets. It does not matter how cleverly you write your malware or hide your online activity. The Justice Department will use every available tool to find you, disrupt your plots, and hold you accountable,” Garland said.
He said the United States also had seized “millions of dollars” from an account at a U.S. financial institution, money that he said had been traced to Malofeyev’s sanctions violations.
“The Justice Department will continue to use all of its authorities to hold accountable Russian oligarchs and others who seek to evade U.S. sanctions,” Garland said.
Federal prosecutors have charged a Russian oligarch who supported separatists in Ukraine with sanctions violations for trying to secretly acquire and run media outlets across Europe, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Wednesday.
At a news conference, Garland said the United States had unsealed an indictment against Konstantin Malofeyev. He said the Treasury Department had identified Malofeyev as “one of the main sources of financing for Russians promoting separatism in Crimea,” a Ukrainian territory that Russia took over in 2014. Garland alleged that Malofeyev had provided “material support” to the Donetsk People’s Republic, a separatist government in eastern Ukraine. After being sanctioned, Garland said, Malofeyev tried to use co-conspirators to acquire the media outlets.
Separately, Garland said the United States had disrupted a global botnet — a network of hacked computers — that was controlled by the Russian military intelligence agency known as the GRU. He said the botnet had been disrupted before it could be used but said the Russian government had used similar infrastructure to attack Ukrainian targets.
The U.S. actions, Garland said, should send a message to Russia.
“It does not matter how far you sail your yacht. It does not matter how well you conceal your assets. It does not matter how cleverly you write your malware or hide your online activity. The Justice Department will use every available tool to find you, disrupt your plots, and hold you accountable,” Garland said.
He said the United States also had seized “millions of dollars” from an account at a U.S. financial institution, money that he said had been traced to Malofeyev’s sanctions violations.
“The Justice Department will continue to use all of its authorities to hold accountable Russian oligarchs and others who seek to evade U.S. sanctions,” Garland said.
English (United States) · 
Turkish (Turkey) ·