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Kremlin Says U.S. Turns Russian Elite Into a List of ‘Enemies’ Kremlin Says U.S. Turns Russian Elite into a List of ‘Enemies’
(about 4 hours later)
MOSCOW — A list of senior Kremlin officials and rich Russians published by the American government constituted an “unprecedented” situation that basically amounted to creating a list of “enemies of the United States,” the Kremlin said Tuesday. MOSCOW — In the latest salvo between Moscow and Washington, the United States Treasury included almost the entire roster of senior Russian government officials as well as 96 billionaires on a new list meant to detail Russia’s most influential people.
The reaction from Moscow came after the Trump administration, adhering to a demand from Congress, released a list of 210 people who were identified because of their “closeness to the Russian regime,” but said it would not impose new sanctions on those named. The list of 210 people was released just before midnight Monday in accordance with a sanctions-related law that passed the United States Congress last August. Those on the new list were not sanctioned, however.
Dmitry S. Peskov, the spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin, told reporters that the Kremlin would analyze the list before deciding on a response to what the Russians called the “Kremlin report.” On the contrary, the Trump administration refrained from imposing any fresh sanctions, angering President Trump’s political opponents in the United States, who said it showed his unwillingness to confront Russia over election meddling and other hostile actions.
The Trump administration seemed to suggest that everyone on the list was an enemy of the United States, Mr. Peskov said, although the document itself said their inclusion on the list did not mean they were involved in “malign activities.” President Vladimir V. Putin, while calling the list a slap against all Russians, said Tuesday that his country would not react immediately to the roster, which his spokesman described as a new American “enemies list” that could harm many reputations.
“De facto everyone is called the enemy of the United States,” Mr. Peskov told reporters. “If you read the text and the title of this document, all this is done in accordance with the law on countering the enemies of the United States.” “This is definitely an unfriendly act,” Mr. Putin said when asked about the list during a campaign event for the March 2018 presidential election. “It is complicating Russian-American relations, where the situation is already hard, and is definitely harming international relations in general.”
Government figures on the list include more than 40 of Mr. Putin’s closest advisers; all 30 members of the cabinet of ministers, including Prime Minister Dimitri A. Medvedev; the heads of many important state agencies and state-run companies; the mayor of Moscow; and the governor of St. Petersburg. Mr. Putin said that Moscow had pondered virtually breaking ties with Washington over what is known in Russia as the “Kremlin report,” but decided against it.
Perhaps the most prominent senior government official who did not appear on the list was the central bank governor, Elvira Nabiullina. The 96 oligarchs on the roster were those Russians worth more than $1 billion, according to the introduction to the document. “We were prepared to undertake retaliatory steps, and quite serious ones, too, which would cut our relations to zero,” he said. “But we will refrain from such steps for the time being.”
The list was met with a combination of disbelief and derision in Russia, with mocking comments ricocheting around social media. Some joked that it had taken the Trump administration six months to photocopy the Forbes list of Russian billionaires, since they were all included, as well as the list of senior officials on the Kremlin website. The document itself said being included did not mean being involved in “malign activities.” The list has a long, complicated title that included a numerical reference to the section of the law which had required its publication.
“The list looks like the book ‘Who’s who in Russian politics,’” Arkady V. Dvorkovich, a deputy prime minister who was included on the list, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. Like many, he shrugged it off as a list of names. “There is no need for action now.” Dmitri S. Peskov, Mr. Putin’s spokesman, said the report could damage the reputation of people, companies and organizations, not least by suggesting that everyone on it was an enemy of the United States.
Other politicians said that their inclusion on the list was a sign that they were doing a good job. “The fact that this list was made public can potentially do damage to the image and reputation of our enterprises, businessmen, politicians and officials,” he told reporters, calling the roster “unprecedented.”
“De facto everyone is called the enemy of the United States,” said Mr. Peskov. “If you read the text and the title of this document, all this is done in accordance with the law on countering the enemies of the United States.”
Government figures on the list include more than 40 of Mr. Putin’s closest advisers; all 30 members of the cabinet of ministers, including Prime Minister Dimitri A. Medvedev; the heads of many important state agencies and state-run companies; and other key political figures.
Perhaps the most prominent government official not on the list was the central bank governor, Elvira Nabiullina. At least 22 people on the list already had been placed under United States sanctions by the administration of President Barack Obama, which said they had played key roles in fueling the Ukraine crisis.
The list was met with a combination of disbelief and derision in Russia, with mocking comments ricocheting around social media. Some joked that it had taken the Trump administration six months to photocopy the Forbes list of Russian billionaires, since they were all included, as well as the link detailing senior officials on the Kremlin website.
“The list looks like the book ‘Who’s who in Russian politics,’” Arkady V. Dvorkovich, a deputy prime minister included on the list, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. Like many, he shrugged it off as merely a list of names. “There is no need for action now.”
The 96 oligarchs on the roster were those Russians worth more than $1 billion, according to the introduction to the document. It was scattered with well-known people including Mikhail Prokhorov, the owner of the Brooklyn Nets, and Eugene Kaspersky, whose antivirustechnology firm has been under fire in the West over allegations that it cooperates with Russian intelligence. One man on the list, Kirill Shamalov, might no longer be in the billionaire’s club since recently divorcing one of Mr. Putin’s daughters, Bloomberg reported.
Kaspersky Labs issued a statement objecting to its founder’s inclusion, saying the company did not have political influence, and Mr. Kaspersky commented on his own Twitter account.
Businessman Gavril Yushvayev, who said he had invested $500 million into Western start-ups, told the online news website The Bell that his overseas partners had been calling to say that they would ignore the list. “Everybody needs people who can invest, regardless of these lists,” he said. “I am not upset, whatever happens, happens.”
The governor of St. Petersburg, Georgiy Poltavchenko, said through a spokesman on Twitter that his inclusion was a sign that he was doing a good job.
The list was prepared after the United States Congress, responding to evidence of Russian hacking and other meddling in the 2016 American presidential election, passed a law in August demanding that the Trump administration prepare within six months a “detailed report” on senior political figures and wealthy businessmen in Russia.The list was prepared after the United States Congress, responding to evidence of Russian hacking and other meddling in the 2016 American presidential election, passed a law in August demanding that the Trump administration prepare within six months a “detailed report” on senior political figures and wealthy businessmen in Russia.
As noted in the introduction to the list, no sanctions were imposed on those named. The announcement also said there were more names on an unpublished annex provided by the Department of the Treasury, including lesser officials or businessmen worth less than $1 billion. The announcement said there were more names on an unpublished annex provided by the Treasury Department, including lesser officials or businessmen worth less than $1 billion.
The unfocused nature of the list was likely to create more than a little head-scratching. It could provide additional fuel to those who consider President Trump beholden to Russia, since its purpose was unclear and it did not single out any person or single entity for additional sanctions. The American ambassador to Moscow, Jon M. Huntsman Jr., portrayed it as a simple legal step required by the sanctions-related law passed last summer and little else.
The law also limited Mr. Trump’s ability to ease current sanctions without a congressional review. Mr. Trump called the law “seriously flawed” when he signed it in August, and Russia initially reacted by forcing the United States Embassy in Moscow to slash its staff. “I would say that we should not allow emotions drive this issue,” he said in an interview with the Echo of Moscow radio station. “It isn’t new sanctions. It is simply a report.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Peskov said that at the very least the list could harm the reputations of all those included. It is up to the Congress to decide what to do with the report, he said.
“The fact that this list was made public can potentially do damage to the image and reputation of our enterprises, businessmen, politicians and officials,” he said. “It is quite unprecedented that such a broad list of the highest-ranking members of the Russian leadership was published.” The unfocused nature of the list was likely to create more than a little head-scratching. It could provide additional fuel to those who suspect that President Trump is somehow beholden to Russia, since it did not single out any person or entity for additional sanctions and its overall purpose seemed muddy.
Just as Mr. Trump generally refrains from criticizing Russia, Mr. Putin uses practically every blow against American-Russian relations to suggest that while Moscow seeks improved ties with the United States, internal American political actors thwart that goal and Mr. Trump.
In this instance, Mr. Putin cited a peculiar example of the ongoing conspiracy against Mr. Trump — it is not always clear where Mr. Putin gets his information. The American president had not been able to use his “official plane” to fly to Switzerland, Mr. Putin said, in an apparent reference to the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. Mr. Trump did fly to Switzerland and back on Air Force One, however.
The Trump administration also announced Monday that it had decided against imposing any sanctions on countries that buy Russian military equipment, another piece of the legislation, saying that the new law already deterred billions of dollars in such purchases.
Mr. Trump called the law “seriously flawed” when he signed it in August, not least because he cannot ease current sanctions without a Congressional review. Russia initially reacted by forcing the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to slash its staff.