Donald Trump dragged his heels on Russia sanctions, taking his time in signing the bill passed by Congress and initially stating that no sanctions were needed because just passing the bill was enough. Eventually the government did issue additional sanctions, but they were primarily limited to Russians already indicted by Robert Mueller. In the last month, with Russia’s aggressive act in the UK drawing worldwide attention, Trump responded by joining NATO allies in expelling Russian diplomats. Now the Trump White House has taken a decidedly different turn. On Friday morning, the Treasury Department issued an unexpected set of sanctions against Russian officials and oligarchs.
Included in the list of those sanctioned is at least one oligarch whose name has become familiar.
The 7 oligarchs include Oleg Deripaska, an aluminum magnate who had past business dealings with Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, who has been indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Deripaska is the oligarch who Manafort offered to brief on the Trump campaign. He’s also the man suspected to be at the other end of the pipeline from Manafort and Rick Gates’s conversation with “Person A,” also known as Russian intelligence officer Konstantin Kilimnik. Not only was Kilimnik Manafort’s right-hand-man in the Ukraine, and not only did he work for Deripaska, but all three of them were involved in an interesting indictment in 2016 while Paul Manafort was chairman of the Trump campaign—an incident where the Russian oligarch came to the US.
And that might not be the only interesting connection in this crew.
Deripaska’s relationship with Manafort predates the events in Ukraine, and continued right through Trump’s campaign.
A private jet belonging to the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska arrived in the US shortly after a meeting between the then-chairman of President Donald Trump's campaign and a mysterious Russian operative who has now become the center of the Russia controversy, Vice News reported Friday.
Recent court filings from Robert Mueller have made it clear that this relationship between Manafort, Gates, Kilimnik and Deripaska is one that’s getting a lot of attention within the Russia investigation.
Also on the list of sanctions is Rosoboroneksport, Russia’s state-owned company for handling foreign arms sales. They were at the other end of the $4.2 billion deal that George Nader brokered between the Iraqi government and Russia. Most of the remaining oligarchs on the list appear to be involved in Russia’s oil and gas business. Gazprom, one of Russia’s state-operated oil and gas companies, was the subject of previous sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine. These sanctions seem to extend that focus on Russia’s largest export.
The sanctions officially fall under the requirements of the bill passed by Congress in 2017 calling for additional Russian sanctions as retaliation for interference in the 2016 election. However, Trump has previously taken only minimal steps in relation to that law. Why the White House issued these additional sanctions at this point isn’t clear, though there has been a determined effort over the last few weeks to paint Trump as “tough on Russia” even as he continues to send congratulations and invitations to Vladimir Putin.
President Donald Trump has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats for doing little to punish Russia for interfering in the U.S. election and for being slow to act on the sanctions law. An investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russian government has cast a shadow over his presidency, though Trump denies the accusation.