US removes sanctions on wife of Russian billionaire

ISTANBUL

The US has lifted sanctions imposed on the wife of a Russian billionaire considered to have close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A statement by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control on Wednesday listed an update to its Specially Designated Nationals list, including the removal of Karina Rotenberg from the list.

Rotenberg, a US citizen since as early as 2013, was sanctioned by the US in March 2022, according to an investigative series published in 2023 by the Dutch-based Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

The report said that in 2009, Karina married Boris Rotenberg, an oligarch who is a childhood friend of the Russian president.

Boris was sanctioned by the US following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The move comes amid the US’ Trump administration seeking the normalization of ties with Russia, at the same time that it disbands units to investigate alleged foreign interference in US elections and scales back enforcement of sanctions on Russia over the war on Ukraine.