- U.S. targets high-ranking Russians with Kremlin Report
The U.S. Treasury Department sent Congress the Kremlin Report, which includes Russian Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Kremlin Spokesman Dimitry Peskov, all of whom could have restrictive measures placed on them in the future.
The list also includes entrepreneurs with assets of over $1 billion.
The report, which includes a total of 210 people, is divided into several categories - Kremlin Administration, Ministers, Political Leaders, and Oligarchs. The report also emphasized that the names on the list are not being sanctioned and that no restrictions have been placed on them.
Nonetheless, Russia's reaction to the report was immediate. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he was "sad" that he was not included in the report.
He also stated that the report is a step towards the U.S.’ hostile approach towards Russia.
"Those who prepare the report are harming their governments by damaging Moscow-Washington relations," he said. Putin also voiced Russia's refusal to take similar measures against the U.S. in response to the report.
The toughest statement about the report came from the Kremlin spokesman
Peskov. He said that "If you read this document and its title, you will see that all this is done to 'resist America's enemies'. All the names included in the report are declared as enemies by Washington," he said.
On the other hand, the great similarity between the Russian billionaires in the report and the Forbes Russian billionaires list led to comments that the U.S. ministry simply copied the list.
These claims have received numerous criticisms, especially on social media. The claims say that the ministry, which has allegedly prepared the report over a period of six months, has just simply listed who is rich in Russia, instead of targeting business people supported by the Kremlin.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich also cited the similarity and said, "The Kremlin Report is more like a 'Who is who in Russian politics,’” while the Russian lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev said the list looked like the Kremlin’s “phone book.”