This week, the Trump administration unexpectedly lifted economic sanctions against Karina Rotenberg, the spouse of a prominent ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, while concurrently imposing sanctions on six other individuals and entities linked to Russia.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) removed Karina Rotenberg from its sanctions list. However, the official announcement did not state the reasons for this decision.
Multiple inquiries from Finance Newso to the White House and Treasury Department over the course of two days about the rationale behind lifting the sanctions went unanswered.
Karina Rotenberg, a 46-year-old dual citizen of the United States and Russia, was included in OFAC’s list of specially designated nationals in March 2022, alongside her billionaire husband Boris Rotenberg and their sons, Roman and Boris. This action took place shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Instances of American citizens being added to the U.S. sanctions list are quite rare.
Alongside them, Boris Rotenberg’s brother Arkady and his children were subjected to similar comprehensive sanctions at that time.
Both Boris and Arkady are long-time friends of President Putin.
When the sanctions were first announced in March 2022 by the Biden administration, the White House stated, “Today, the United States, in coordination with Allies and partners, is targeting additional Russian elites and family members who continue supporting President Putin despite his brutal invasion of Ukraine.”
The administration emphasized that these individuals have enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian populace, with some of their family members placed in significant positions of power.
The statement further noted that, “Others control Russia’s largest corporations and are responsible for supplying resources necessary to facilitate Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. These individuals and their families will find themselves cut off from the U.S. financial system, their assets frozen, and their properties blocked from use.”
Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov expressed skepticism regarding the news of Karina Rotenberg’s removal from the sanctions list, commenting, “Tariffs on allies, lifting sanctions on enemies” via Twitter, a sentiment reflecting his critical stance toward the Putin administration.
Previous sanctions on Boris and Arkady Rotenberg were also imposed in March 2014, targeting what OFAC described as members of the “Russian leadership’s inner circle.”
According to OFAC’s announcements, “Arkady Rotenberg and Boris Rotenberg have supported Putin’s significant projects by obtaining and executing high-value contracts for the Sochi Olympic Games and the state-controlled Gazprom.”
The report detailed the brothers’ substantial financial gains, stating they secured contracts worth approximately $7 billion for the Sochi Olympic Games, while their personal wealth surged by $2.5 billion in the preceding two years alone.
In June 2023, the Rotenberg brothers were the focus of an investigative reporting project titled “The Rotenberg Files,” which shed light on a considerable leak of documents and emails from a Russian management firm that worked closely with them, as reported by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
