A Russian-Israeli businessman is among a group of individuals and entities hit with US sanctions on Thursday for assisting in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to the US State Department, Sergei Adonyev, 61, acts as a financier to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Sergei Chemezov, who heads the state-owned defense firm Rostec.
A statement from the State Department did not elaborate on why the US was blacklisting Adonyev, a telecoms mogul estimated by Forbes to be worth over half a billion dollars, and what it called “his network.”
The sanctions also targeted a company linked to Adonyev and his sons Filipp and Luka, along with two yachts and a plane he owns.
A separate statement from the US Treasury Department gave Adonyev’s address as a rental luxury house in the coastal city of Herzliya. The property is listed on several rental sites, which describe it as a villa.
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It was not clear if he was currently residing at the home or previously lived there.
Along with his Russian and Israeli passports, Adonyev previously held Bulgarian citizenship, but it was revoked in 2019 over a decades-old fraud conviction in the US that has since been overturned.
Damals wurde musicAeterna in Perm von Oligarchen Sergei Adonyev (Spitzname Citezen Cocaine) gefördert. Er unterstützte die „Novaya Gazeta“, die am 28. März eingestellt wurde. Aber 2020 zogen Currentzis und sein Orchester nach St. Petersburg. Putin kaufte Currentzis‘ Gewissen. pic.twitter.com/mDtUPwxu1g
— Axel Brüggemann (@abmann71) May 28, 2022
Israel has not joined sanctions imposed by the US and others since Russia invaded Ukraine last February. While voicing support for Kyiv and providing humanitarian aid, Israel has rebuffed requests to supply weapons, out of apparent concern for Russia’s reaction. A major reason for Israel’s hesitance appears to be its strategic need to maintain freedom of operations in Syria, where Russian forces largely control the airspace.
Along with Thursday’s action against Adonyev, the Biden administration expanded sanctions against Russia’s Wagner Group and related companies and individuals for their role in the war in Ukraine and mercenary activities, including human rights abuses, in Africa.
The announcements re-designated the Wagner Group, a private Russian military group owned by a close associate of Putin, as a “significant transnational criminal organization.” The firm had already been identified as such but the re-designations expand the sanctions.
A total of eight people, 16 companies and four specific aircraft were sanctioned by the Treasury Department. In addition, the State Department imposed separate but related sanctions on five companies and one person linked to the Wagner Group and 23 others for being part of Russia’s military-industrial complex.
Visitors wearing military camouflage stand at the entrance of the ‘PMC Wagner Centre’, which is associated with businessman and founder of the Wagner private military group Yevgeny Prigozhin, during the official opening of the office block during National Unity Day, in St. Petersburg, Russia, November 4, 2022. (AP Photo, File)
The sanctions freeze any assets those identified may have in US jurisdictions and bar Americans from conducting business with them by adding a number of affiliates to American blacklists.
The State Department also placed 531 members of the Russian military on a travel blacklist for actions that threaten or violate the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine.
“This action supports our goal to degrade Moscow’s capacity to wage war against Ukraine, to promote accountability for those responsible for Russia’s war of aggression and associated abuses, and to place further pressure on Russia’s defense sector,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.