Thread by @rogertansey

1/ Now we get to the fun part.

“Western allies plan to confiscate yachts, jets, luxury apartments from Russian elites in hopes of undercutting Moscow over invasion” washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022…

Will Putin start watching his back?

2/ “Senior Biden administration officials are preparing to dramatically expand the number of Russian oligarchs subject to U.S. sanctions, aiming to punish the financial elite close to President Vladimir Putin”

3/ “The U.S. sanctions would also probably include travel restrictions and the seizure of overseas assets that could run into the billions.”

4/ Sanction the sons too!

“America’s sanctions are expected to be more complicated than those imposed by the E.U., targeting not just the individuals but also their family members and companies they own.”

5/ Schadenfreude big time!

“President Biden said . . . that the U.S. would join with Europe to “seize their yachts, their luxury apartments, their private jets.”

6/ Unprecedented int’l cooperation.

“In addition to the sanctions. . . Western leaders vowed this week to create a new “transatlantic task force” of law enforcement to help identify, and freeze, the assets of Russian oligarchs in violation of those sanctions.”

7/ Such thievery.

“Russia’s billionaires control roughly 30% of the nation’s wealth — compared with roughly 15% in Germany and the United States — and have about as much financial wealth stashed in offshore foreign accounts as the entire Russian population has in Russia itself”

8/ They. Are. #Complicit

“Many of them have served at high levels of Putin’s government, or played an instrumental role in providing financing either for the Russian president personally or the Kremlin’s efforts abroad.”

8/ “Specialty designated nationals”

“The U.S. sanctions measures work by adding the Russian officials, business executives, companies and other groups to a list of “specially designated nationals,” maintained and published by the Treasury Department.”

9/ “Any entity or person appearing on that list will see their U.S. assets frozen, and Americans are generally barred from financial transactions with them.”

10/ “It’s hard to express how massive a sea change this is for Western policy. The sanctions against these oligarchs are unprecedented in their scope and size; many of them were presumed to be untouchable,” said Paul Massaro, an anticorruption adviser to congressional lawmakers.”

11/ Hope so.

“It will shake the rogue Putin regime to its core.”

12/ Add the Navalny 35.

“More sanctions may be on the way. A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants the Biden administration to impose sanctions on the “Navalny 35,” a list of Putin allies identified by a group tied to Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.”

13/ Then do it.

“That would amount to a dramatic expansion in the number of individual Russian business elites targeted for sanctions.”

14/ A fantastic idea!

“Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), [is] studying legal changes that could allow oligarchs’ confiscated assets to be given to Ukraine to assist in that country’s reconstruction, something he said is illegal under current law.”

15/ Must-see TV - bring your own pitchfork

“In a war partly about morale on both sides, seeing Russian oligarchs’ yachts seized and sold at auction — seeing police at their villas, at their luxury apartments — will give Ukrainians and Russians who hate Putin a huge boost.”

16/ “Malinowski said. “This is one of the ways in which we can weaken the support structure of this regime. … The more we can make the sanctions feel like a shock and awe campaign, the better.”

17/ “Key to the sanctions effort will be the new int’l task force — details of which remain vague — to identify and track where Russian oligarchs are parking their assets. Without that information, the sanctions can be evaded given that the oligarchs’ finances may go undetected.”