Thread by @InsiderNews

At 24, Elizaveta Peskova is by any measure successful. She is the founder of a communications firm and the director of a historical foundation.

She’s also the daughter of Vladimir Putin's spokesperson and was sanctioned by the US earlier this month. ⬇️

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On March 11, the US Treasury announced it was imposing sanctions against Peskova and her brother.

Their father is Dmitry Peskov — described as “chief propagandist of the Russian Federation and Putin’s spokesperson” — was sanctioned a week earlier.
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According to the US, Elizaveta has profited off her family’s connections to power.

The official announcement of the sanctions against her notes that she has “tens of thousands of followers on social media, where she displays her luxurious lifestyle.”

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It’s unclear how much money she or her family actually have.

But in 2019, @guardian reported that Dmitry’s wife, Olympic ice dancer Tatiana Navka, had amassed real estate holdings worth more than $10 million.

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Peskova, who says she is a self-made woman, told @thisisinsider that she was blindsided by the sanctions and, in particular, the accusation that she is “enabling war.”

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It won’t impact her financially, Peskova said — though like other Russians, she has felt the impact of broader sanctions and the country’s isolation from the global financial system — but that does mean no more trips to places like New York City.

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On the day of the attack, Peskova appeared to criticize her government, posting the words “no to war” in a since-deleted Instagram Live broadcast.

Today, Peskova claims she did not necessarily mean to criticize any one conflict in particular.

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Even if Peskova wanted to say more, there’s a reason why she might fear doing so. Speaking out against Russia’s invasion — even calling it a “war” instead of “special military operation” — can result in up to 15 years behind bars for spreading “fake” news.
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Maria Snegovaya, an adjunct senior fellow at @CNASdc, suspects that the children of Russia’s political elites, many of whom have spent a good deal of time traveling and living abroad, probably do prefer the cultural and democratic values they encountered elsewhere.

Financial penalties and travel prohibitions are one way to force Russia’s elite to think more carefully about which side they are choosing.

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Peskova maintains that the sanctions will not have its desired effect, suggesting that the idea that elites like her could impact policy in Russia is a faulty assumption.

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Peskova won’t say more about the “special military operation,” but she acknowledged that having nothing to say about Russia’s bombing of a maternity hospital, for example, might make people less sympathetic to the plight of a Russian socialite.

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Read the full story on @thisisinsider. ⬇️

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