Putin says US sanctions list targets all Russians

Russian president vladimir putin says a list of officials and businessmen close to the kremlin published by means of america has in effect focused all russian people.

The list names 210 top russians as part of a sanctions law aimed at punishing moscow for meddling inside the us election.

However, the usa burdened those named have been no longer difficulty to new sanctions.

Mr putin said the list was an unfriendly act that complex us-russia ties but he said he did no longer want to escalate the scenario.

Mr putin said russia ought to instead be considering "ourselves and the financial system".

Why did the usa put up the list?
The authorities turned into required to draw up the listing after congress passed the countering america's adversaries via sanctions act (caatsa) in august.

The law aimed to punish russia for its alleged meddling inside the 2016 us presidential election and its moves in ukraine.

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Congress wanted the listing to name and shame folks who had benefited from near affiliation with president putin and positioned them on note that they could be targeted for sanctions, or more sanctions, inside the future.

President donald trump did no longer assist caatsa, despite the fact that he signed it into law, saying it changed into "unconstitutional".

Under the regulation, the listing needed to be introduced by using monday. The fact it turned into launched approximately 10 minutes before midnight might also replicate mr trump's coolness in the direction of it, and his opposition to punishing more russians with sanctions.

The pinnacle democrat on the house foreign affairs committee, eliot engel, accused the trump management of letting "russia off the hook again" with the aid of no longer taking good sized movement.

Who has been named?
Informally referred to as the "putin list", the unclassified phase has 210 names, 114 of them in the government or linked to it, or key businessmen. The other ninety six are oligarchs reputedly decided greater with the aid of the truth they may be really worth greater than $1bn (£710m) than their near ties to the kremlin.Maximum of mr putin's longstanding allies are named, a lot of them siloviki (safety guys). They encompass the spy chiefs alexander bortnikov of the federal safety carrier (fsb) - which mr putin used to run - and sergei naryshkin of the foreign intelligence provider (svr).

The guys who control russia's electricity assets are listed: gazprom chief alexei miller, rosneft leader igor sechin and other oil and gasoline executives, along with pinnacle bankers like financial institution rossiya manager yuri kovalchuk.

The oligarchs consist of kirill shamalov, who is mentioned to be mr putin's son-in-law, even though the kremlin has by no means showed his marriage to katerina tikhonova, nor even that she is the president's daughter.

The world over acknowledged oligarchs are there too, inclusive of those with stakes in top english soccer clubs: alisher usmanov (arsenal) and roman abramovich (chelsea).

Will they face new sanctions?
Now not in the interim. The usa treasury document itself stresses: "it isn't always a sanctions list, and the inclusion of individuals or entities... Does not and in no manner have to be interpreted to impose sanctions on the ones people or entities."

It adds: "neither does inclusion at the unclassified list indicate that the usa government has information about the individual's involvement in malign sports."

But, there is a classified model said to consist of facts detailing allegations of involvement in corrupt sports.

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Analysis: steve rosenberg, bbc moscow correspondent

The best information for the kremlin: this is not a sanctions list. But the top news ends there.

Those russian officials and oligarchs named via the us treasury will worry that their inclusion could sign sanctions inside the destiny.

Even before the listing changed into made public, the kremlin had claimed america treasury document was an try to meddle in russia's presidential election.

The list reads like a who's who of the russian political elite and enterprise world.

Moscow might not need that to become a who's sanctioned.

Kremlin accuses us of election meddling
What's the caatsa act and did the president need it?
The law restrained the quantity of cash people ought to invest in russian power tasks and made it extra difficult for us agencies to do enterprise with russia.

It also imposed sanctions on iran and north korea.In signing the act, mr trump attached a statement calling the measure "deeply mistaken" and said he should make "some distance higher deals with overseas international locations than congress".

Earlier on monday, the united states authorities argued the caatsa law had already driven governments around the arena to cancel offers with russia worth billions, suggesting that extra sanctions had been no longer required.

How have the russians reacted?
Possibly relating to the truth that all of their political representatives have been named, mr putin said that, in effect, "all 146 million russians have been placed on the listing".

He joked he turned into angry now not to be named himself.

Earlier, kremlin spokesman dmitry peskov, who's himself on the listing, widespread that it became not one of sanctions however said it may potentially damage "the photograph and popularity" of figures listed and their related companies.

He introduced: "it's not the primary day that we live with pretty competitive comments made closer to us, so we ought to not provide in to feelings."

When caatsa became handed, pm dmitry medvedev said it supposed the usa had declared a "full-scale alternate warfare" on russia.

Russian opposition chief alexei navalny praised the guide of the names as "an excellent listing".