The United States, Britain and the European Union all imposed new sanctions against Russia this week, in a coordinated bid to punish Moscow for its military invasion of Ukraine.
The measures target a range of companies, banks and powerful individuals in Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced a second round of sanctions against Russia's two largest financial institutions, multiple state-owned enterprises and a handful of Russian elites. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also told Parliament on Thursday that his government was launching the "largest and most severe package of economic sanctions that Russia has ever seen."
Earlier this week, the European Union said it was freezing the assets of a number of prominent entities and individuals linked to the Kremlin. EU officials also announced early Friday a sweeping new sanctions package they said would affect everything including Russia's oil sector and the ability of Russian diplomats to obtain visas to the bloc.
Here are some of the most high-profile Russian individuals and entities Western nations have placed on sanctions lists so far.
Internet Research Agency
The Internet Research Agency is a Russian company based in St. Petersburg and financed by Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a Kremlin-linked businessman already under EU and US sanctions for his ties to the Wagner mercenary group. The European Union this week listed Prigozhin's wife and mother as sanctions targets for their involvement with businesses owned by Prigozhin.
The agency engages in online influence operations and was at the centre of Silicon Valley's investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. It was also named in a sweeping 2018 Justice Department indictment as the hub of a major effort to trick Americans into following and promoting Russian-led propaganda aimed at swaying voters toward then-Republican candidate Donald Trump.
"The Americans are very impressionable people, and they see what they want to see," Prigozhin told Russia's RIA Novosti state news agency in response to the indictment.
The EU said in a note published in its official journal that the Internet Research Agency "conducts disinformation campaigns targeting Ukraine's agenda by influencing elections or perceptions of the annexation of Crimea or the conflict in Donbas."
"In this capacity, the Internet Research Agency is responsible for actively supporting actions which undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine," the note said.
Prigozhin's first foray into business was a hot-dog stand. In a series of food-related ventures in the 1990s, he opened a fast food cafe, then food marts and upscale restraints in Russia's major cities. He later became known as "Putin's chef" after founding a catering company that scored a $1.6 billion contract to source 90% of food orders to Russian soldiers in 2012.
Maria Zakharova
Maria Zakharova is a veteran Russian communications officer who worked as a press secretary for Russia's mission to the United Nations before landing at the Foreign Ministry in 2008. She has served as the director of the ministry's Information and Press Department since 2015, giving press briefings on the state of Russian foreign affairs.
The EU list calls her "a central figure of the government propaganda" and noted that she "promoted the deployment of Russian forces in Ukraine."
In a February 16 briefing, Zakharova repeatedly criticized what she called Western "disinformation media" about Russian aggression and the prospect of war in Ukraine.
"Sorry, I was held up for a minute. I was double-checking whether we are invading or not. We're not invading!" she said at the start of her briefing.
In a Facebook post the same day, Zakharova asked the "mass media of disinformation" in the West "to reveal the schedule of our 'invasions' for the upcoming year. I'd like to plan my vacations."
Anton Vaino
Anton Vaino is a foreign service veteran and Russian President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff. He served as a Russian diplomat in Tokyo before becoming more heavily involved in domestic political matters.
Very little is known about Vaino, even though he is Putin's top aide. When he was appointed in 2016, the BBC reported that he had not given any press interviews and that his public biography was slim.
The EU listed him, saying he plays "an active role in Kremlin decision-making process by taking part in the Russian 'Security Council' and influencing the elaboration of decisions by the president in the field of Russia's defence and national security."
Sergei Shoigu
Sergei Shoigu is Russia's minister of defence and his official biography lists him as "Army General, Hero of the Russian Federation." He has served as defence minister since 2012 after a stint as governor of Moscow.
In a speech in December, Shoigu accused the United States and NATO of "purposefully increasing the scale and intensity" of military training activities near Russia and bolstering the military development of Ukraine.
On Monday, Shoigu said Ukraine had stepped up shelling of separatist-controlled areas of the Donbas region in the east. He told Putin that Ukraine may be preparing to take them back by force - charges Kyiv denied.
The EU sanctioned him, saying that under Shoigu's "command and orders, Russian troops have held military drills in the illegally annexed Crimea and have been positioned at the border." The minister is "ultimately responsible for any military action against Ukraine," the official sanctions note said.
Margarita Simonyan
Simonyan is the editor in chief of RT, an English-language television news network formerly known as Russia Today. She also heads the news outlet Rossiya Segodnya, a Kremlin-backed news agency that operates Sputnik and RIA Novosti.
The State Department last month called both RT and Sputnik "critical elements in Russia's disinformation and propaganda ecosystem."
The European Union, which this week placed her on a sanctions list, said that "through her function, she promoted a positive attitude to the annexation of Crimea and the action of separatists in Donbas."
The state-funded media outlet has also been linked to disinformation campaigns and Russian propaganda.
After Facebook temporarily blocked RT from posting content to its page in January 2017, Simonyan said she was "not surprised if the Department of State could block oxygen to us, they would do it."
After a back-and-forth between the U.S. Justice Department and RT over the media outlet's registration with US authorities as a foreign agent, Simonyan in 2017 announced that she was "forced to choose registration".
Andrey Sergeyevich Puchkov and Yuriy Alekseyevich Soloviev
Andrey Sergeyevich Puchkov and Yuriy Alekseyevich Soloviev are high-ranking executives at VTB Bank, which is Russia's second-largest lender. The US Treasury Department blacklisted both executives on Thursday.
The administration targeted VTB Bank as well as Sberbank, cutting them off from being able to process payments through the US financial system. The institutions conduct around $46 billion in foreign exchange transactions each day, about 80% of which is in U.S. dollars.
"The vast majority of those transactions will now be disrupted," the Treasury Department said in a statement.
The EU also listed several individuals linked to VTB this week, including Denis Aleksandrovich Bortnikov, deputy president and chairman of VTB Bank management board.
Kirill Shamalov
Among the new additions to Britain's sanctions list is Kirill Shamalov, whom the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has described as "Russia's youngest billionaire... previously married to Putin's daughter Katarina."
Shamalov, 39, is a shareholder and deputy chair of the management board at Russian government-affiliated petrochemicals company Sibur — a role in which he "is or has been involved in obtaining a benefit from or supporting the Government of Russia," according to British authorities.
The UK sanctions list describes him as having "close links to President Putin and the Kremlin."
That could be because he was married for five years to Katerina Tikhonova, who is widely acknowledged outside official circles as Putin's daughter.
During their marriage, the couple reportedly lived a lavish lifestyle that featured a seaside villa in Biarritz, France, and drew allegations of corruption.
The Washington Post