The government on Wednesday announced sanctions against Potanin, who was deputy prime minister under Boris Yelstin. Anna Tsivileva, Putin’s cousin and chairman of the prominent Russian coal mining company JSC Kolmar Group. and Said Gutseriev, his son, is already blacklisted by Russian billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev. “As long as Putin continues his heinous attack on Ukraine, we will use sanctions to weaken the Russian war machine,” a government spokesman said. “Today’s sanctions show that nothing and no one is off the table, including Putin’s inner circle.” The Foreign Office said Potanin had been added to the list of more than 1,000 Russians affected by sanctions because he “continues to amass wealth as he supports the Putin regime by acquiring Rosbank and shares in Tinkoff Bank during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.” . Potanin was named the second richest man in Russia by Forbes magazine earlier this year with an estimated fortune of $ 17.3 billion, behind steel mogul Vladimir Lisin, who is said to have a fortune of $ 18.4 billion. When Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February, Potanin was one of about 30 oligarchs summoned to the Kremlin for a hearing with the Russian president. He has also been photographed playing ice hockey with Putin. Politicians have speculated that Potanin had so far avoided sanctions from the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union because Siberian nickel and palladium mining company Norilsk Nickel is vital to the global automotive and semiconductor industries. Norilsk produces about 15% of the world’s high-quality nickel used in batteries and about 40% of its palladium, which is vital for semiconductor manufacturing. Potanin this week ordered the $ 300 million Nirvana superyacht to be docked in Dubai, where oligarchs are protecting their superyachts and other assets to avoid being seized by Western governments. The 88-meter-long super yacht, with its glass elevator, gym, hot tub, 3D cinema and two terrariums with exotic reptiles, was spotted docking in Dubai’s Port Rashid on Tuesday. Madame Gu, the $ 156 million superyacht owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire MP Andrei Skoch, is anchored nearby. Said Gutseriev has been sanctioned for “profiting from or backing the Russian government” in his role as director of SFI, a Russian company formerly called Safmar Financial Investments in which his father was previously a “controlling shareholder”. His father, Mikhail, had previously been appointed to support the repressive regime of the dictator of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST Said Gutseriev is believed to be living in London. The Guardian and its partners last month unveiled a 160 160m real estate portfolio in London linked to Said Gutseriev and also released details of his shares in SFI. A spokesman for Gutseriyev told the Guardian: “Mr Gucheriyev is not a political figure and has no personal or financial ties to the governments of Russia or Belarus.” The Foreign Office said that Tsivileva, Putin’s first cousin who once left, and her husband, Sergei Tsivilev, “have benefited greatly from their relationship with Putin.” Tsivilev is the governor of Siberia’s coal-rich Kemerovo region. Tsivileva JSC Kolmar Group has also been hit by sanctions. A spokesman said: “The United Kingdom has imposed sanctions on more than 1,000 people and more than 120 companies since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and three-quarters of foreign companies have reduced their operations in Russia – almost a quarter of which have withdraw completely “.
