U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Yacht Company That Caters to Russian Elites

WASHINGTON — The U.S. authorities leveled sanctions in opposition to a yacht administration company and its house owners, describing them as a part of a corrupt system that enables Russian elites and President Vladimir V. Putin to enrich themselves, the Treasury Department introduced on Thursday.

Imperial Yachts, which is predicated in Monaco and managed by the Moscow-born Evgeniy Kochman, caters to Russian oligarchs. The Treasury Department stated Mr. Kochman and his company present yacht-related companies to “Russia’s elites, including those in President Putin’s inner circle.” Imperial Yachts, Treasury stated, conducts business with not less than one sanctioned particular person.

Treasury additionally recognized 4 yachts as being linked to Mr. Putin: the Shellest, the Nega, the Graceful and the Olympia. The division stated that Mr. Putin used the Nega for journey in Russia’s north, and the Shellest periodically travels to his Black Sea palace. The Treasury motion didn’t identify the 459-foot Scheherazade, an Imperial Yachts-associated ship that U.S. intelligence officers say was constructed for Mr. Putin’s use.

“Russia’s elites, up to and including President Putin, rely on complex support networks to hide, move and maintain their wealth and luxury assets,” stated Brian Nelson, the beneath secretary for terrorism and monetary intelligence on the Treasury Department.

“We will continue to enforce our sanctions and expose the corrupt systems by which President Putin and his elites enrich themselves,” he stated.

The division additionally introduced sanctions in opposition to 4 Russian authorities officers and Yury Slyusar, the president of a Russian-state owned company that provides plane to Russia’s navy.

The State Department individually imposed sanctions on Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian minister of international affairs, and Alexei Mordashov, a Russian billionaire. The Commerce Department introduced that it was including 71 organizations to its entities checklist, in an try to block Russia’s navy from importing key technology.

Also put beneath sanctions is Sergei Roldugin, a Russian cellist and a longtime good friend of Mr. Putin’s, described by the Treasury Department as “a custodian of President Putin’s offshore wealth.” Mr. Roldugin was added to the European Union’s sanctions list in late February, days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He has been described as “Putin’s wallet.”

Mr. Kochman and Imperial Yachts have been the main focus of a New York Times investigation displaying that the company was on the coronary heart of what’s basically an oligarch-industrial advanced, a community of corporations together with German shipbuilders, French designers, Italian high-end carpenters and Spanish marinas that serve Russian oligarchs and make use of hundreds of expert employees.

According to a U.S. intelligence evaluation, a gaggle of buyers led by one among Russia’s richest males, Gennady Timchenko, who has been beneath sanctions since 2014, offered the money to Imperial Yachts to purchase three ships: the Scheherazade, the Crescent and the Amadea. Their mixed price of as a lot as $1.6 billion might have purchased six new frigates for the Russian navy.

A lawyer for Imperial Yachts, Simon Clark, denied that the company had any connection to Mr. Timchenko and stated it “never conducted business or provided services to any parties subject to international sanctions.”

But Treasury officers disputed that rivalry of their announcement on Thursday.