Alexander Shulgin, head of Russia’s e-commerce platform Ozon, Boris Rotenberg, one of President Vladimir Putin’s closest business associates, and Said Kerimov, who controls Russia’s largest polyus gold mine, will also be named, according to a draft document. seen by the Financial Times. Ekaterina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova, Putin’s daughters from his first marriage, will be sanctioned for taking advantage of the Russian government, according to the draft list. If approved by EU Member States, sanctions would be subject to asset freezing and travel bans by the bloc. The list is not final and could be changed before it enters into force. The EU, the United States and the United Kingdom have pledged to increase pressure on Putin’s regime in response to widespread allegations of atrocities and war crimes allegations made by the Russian military in the formerly occupied territories of Ukraine, including the city of Bucha near Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his ministers have repeatedly called on Western countries to step up measures against the Russian economy in a bid to stifle financial flows that help finance the invasion. Gref, chief executive and chairman of the Kremlin-controlled lender Sberbank and former minister, is in the spotlight with Shulgin, whose company was listed on the Nasdaq in 2020. The EU’s justification for targeting both men included their participation in a televised meeting with Putin in the Kremlin on the day of the invasion, in which the president explained to dozens of top businessmen why it was necessary to attack Ukraine, according to the draft. The latest individual sanctions are being discussed by member states’ ambassadors meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, before being formally adopted in EU law. They are part of the proposed fifth package of EU measures against Moscow, including new economic restrictions announced by the European Commission on Tuesday aimed at importing Russian coal and expanding restrictions on the country’s banking sector. The latest round of EU measures is also expected to include € 10 billion in export bans in areas such as quantum computers and advanced semiconductors and € 5.5 billion in bans on products such as wood, cement, seafood and alcohol. The EU is not expected to hurt Russian oil exports in the current round of sanctions, but officials are discussing ways to include the industry in future rounds of sanctions.

The new EU target also includes Vladimir Bogdanov, general manager of Surgutneftegas, Russia’s third-largest oil producer, which accounts for about 10 percent of the country’s crude production. Deripaska, who controlled Russia’s largest aluminum producer Rusal before US sanctions in 2018 forced him to reduce his stake in the company, is on the draft list for ownership of a number of arms companies the EU claims that they provided weapons used in the invasion of Ukraine. Rothenberg, a Finnish citizen, has made his fortune through tenders and contracts from state-controlled oil and gas companies. He and his nephew, Igor, are to be sanctioned for their close ties to Putin. Arkady Rotenberg, Boris’s brother, is already under sanctions.