Russia attacks Ukraine

The new US sanctions triggered by Russian's latest actions in Ukraine included targets that in the past have gone untouched: the family members of those in Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.

By designating the sons of two powerful players close to the Russian President, the Biden administration sent a clear signal that its target list for individual sanctions extends beyond public officials and financiers as part of a new effort to shut down pathways for top Putin associates to shield their wealth by giving it to family members.

Denis Bortnikov and Vladimir Kiriyenko, both designated for individual sanctions by the Treasury Department on Tuesday, hold their own prominent positions in Russian business. But both will now have any US-held assets frozen and be barred from dealing with any US persons solely because their fathers serve as Putin's domestic intelligence chief and as one of Putin's closest advisers, respectively.

Sanctioning the sons of two of Putin's closest officials doesn't carry the impact of other measures announced on Tuesday, most notably imposing sanctions on two of Russia's most prominent banks and reducing the country's ability to access Western finance.

But they are meant to unsettle a very personal element of the Russian economy, one driven by the reality that Putin's inner circle and the family members tied to them represent an extraordinary consolidation of wealth and power inside the country.

It is clear, officials say, that the opening salvo of that approach is unlikely to be the last.

The sanctions are aimed at "powerful Russians in Putin's inner circle believed to be participating in the Russian regime's kleptocracy and their family members," according to the Treasury Department.

Denis Bortnikov is the son of Aleksandr Bortnikov, the powerful head of the Federal Security Service, Russia's domestic intelligence service known as the FSB. The elder Bortnikov, already subject to sanctions in March of last year, was re-designated for sanctions in the new round.

Vladimir Kiriyenko is the son of Sergei Kiriyenko, the former prime minister and current first deputy chief of staff of the presidential office who is viewed by US officials as "Putin's domestic policy curator." The elder Kiriyenko, also sanctioned in 2021, was also re-designated for sanctions on Tuesday.

The re-designations were necessary to create the legal pathway to target their sons for designation, which freezes all property and interests in property in the US, or in possession or control of a US citizen.

The two sons currently hold prominent roles of their own — Bortnikov as deputy president of VTB Bank, one of Russia's largest financial institutions, and Kiriyenko as the recently installed CEO of VK Group, which serves as the parent company of the Russian social media company VK, which calls itself "the largest European social network."

A third sanctioned individual, Petr Fradkov, serves as the CEO of Promsvyazbank, the military bank also targeted for sanctions on Tuesday. But he, too, carries a key familial tie to the upper echelons of Putin's orbit.

Fradkov is the son of Mikhail Fradkov, an ex-prime minister of Russia and the former chief of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR. The elder Fradkov was targeted for sanctions by the US in 2018.

Read more about the sanctions here.

The White House said Wednesday to expect additional sanctions on Russia, suggesting that even if Russia were to take no further action in Ukraine, the US and allies will continue to impose costs on the country.

Deputy national security adviser Daleep Singh did not specify timing during an appearance on CNN’s “New Day,” but he pointed to the types of sanctions the US might pursue, including export controls “at any moment.”

Asked by CNN’s John Berman whether there would be no further sanctions if Russia did not take further steps in Ukraine, Singh said, “No.”

He described Tuesday’s sanctions as a “demonstration effect” that will “go higher and higher.”

Singh also reacted to a call from Ukraine’s foreign minister to hit Russia with more sanctions now.

“Sometimes I wonder if there's almost a bloodlust out there for sanctions as an end to themselves. But let me just be really clear. We did hit hard yesterday,” he said, pointing to Tuesday’s package of sanctions on banks, debt, and oligarchs, as well as Germany’s announcement it would halt the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Pressed by Berman on who that bloodlust was from, he aimed his attack at the media, and not the Ukrainian foreign minister.

“I hear it from many in the media, why didn’t you impose all of your sanctions on day one?” he said.

Asked again whether he was targeting the Ukrainian official with that phrasing, he said, “No, no I’m not saying that. I’m saying I hear from questions out there and commentary.”

Asked if there had been a change to the current military situation, Singh maintained status quo, saying Russia is still “poised and positioned to launch a major invasion, a large scale invasion across much of the territory of Ukraine, from the north, from the east, and from the south, that has not changed.”

Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday warned of a "finely tuned and painful" response to the United States after the Biden administration imposed fresh sanctions on Moscow. 

The statement alleged that the sanctions are part of Washington's "ongoing attempts to change Russia's course," and added that the pressure will not prove to be a deterrence.

The ministry also reiterated that it's open for diplomacy but warned that the US will receive a response from Russia.

"We are open to diplomacy based on the principles of mutual respect, equality and consideration of each other's interests," the statement read. "There should be no doubt that sanctions will receive a strong response, not necessarily symmetrical, but finely tuned and painful to the American side."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the "future of European security is being decided now, here in Ukraine" in a news conference in Kyiv Wednesday.

Speaking alongside the Polish and Lithuanian leaders, Zelensky said:

Zelensky called for a tough regime of sanctions against Russia.

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday the US will sanction Russia's financial institutions and oligarchs. The United Kingdom, European Union, Canada, Australia and Japan also announced fresh sanctions on Russia.

"The military presence of the Russian Federation on the occupied territory of Donbas has been hiding behind the separatist uniform," he said.

"And now we see this is a unilateral departure from the Minsk agreements," he added, referencing Russia's announcement that the Minsk agreement — designed to bring peace to the eastern regions of Ukraine — no longer applied.

"We need to completely stop the Nord Stream project, which is a weapon that is already being used against Ukraine and Europe," he added.

Yesterday, Germany said it halted certifying the $11 billion 750-mile pipeline that connects Russia directly to Germany. The Nord Stream 2 project was completed in September but has not yet received the final green light from German regulators.

Standing next to Zelensky, Polish President Andrzej Duda said, "We are all walking the narrow path between peace and further stable development and war. Poland condemns Putin's decision about recognition."

New satellite images from Maxar Technologies show that additional troops, vehicles and logistics infrastructure have been deployed in recent days to the Ukrainian border by Russia.  

The starkest image was taken over an airfield just southwest of Mazyr, Belarus, where dozens of tents and vehicles have appeared in recent days.  

A satellite image from Feb. 4 showed the area was completely vacant. That airfield is just under 40 kilometers— about 24 miles — from the Ukrainian border.

CNN has geolocated numerous videos posted to social media that show significant activity in the area, with some convoys moving even closer in the direction of the Ukrainian border.  

Past satellite images in the area have shown significant activity around Belgorod, Russia, and the latest set of images show even more.

Just west of the city, Maxar Technologies said a new field hospital has been constructed at a military site. Southwest of the city, additional troops and equipment are seen in satellite images as well.

US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo outlined Tuesday’s sanctions announcement Wednesday morning, detailing the Biden administration’s three-pronged approach. 

“The sanctions that we imposed were significant actions that had an impact on Russia in multiple ways,” Adeyemo said during a brief appearance on MSNBC.

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday laid out what he called a "first tranche" of US sanctions against Russia, including on two large financial institutions, Russian sovereign debt and Russian elites and their family members.

Echoing Biden’s remarks yesterday, Adeyemo acknowledged that there will be some costs to Americans, including at the gas pump.

“What the President has told us is to take actions that will severely impact the Russian economy and to mitigate the impact on the US and Europe, which we have which we have done, but there will be costs and our goal will be to make sure that we mitigate those costs over time,” he said.

Pressed about oligarchs who may have funds spread out across multiple countries, Adeyemo said that the strategy included going after those close to them, including their children.

“One of the things we did yesterday was in addition to going after the named individuals, we went after their children. And our goal will be as we continue, is to make sure that we target the individuals around them to ensure that the money they're sending to places like London and New York through those individuals can no longer flow and we constrict the ability of this money to flow back to President Putin,” he said.

In response to US sanctions on Russia’s sovereign debt, the Russian Ministry of Finance has announced measures that it said will ensure the stability of its access to debt markets.

The ministry said it has enough money available — more than 4.5 trillion rubles (around $56 billion) — to ensure that it can be flexible in borrowing money and selling new government debt. In the coming weeks, Russian government bond auctions will be restricted and will take into account the market situation, it added.

The ministry's reserves are more than double the planned net borrowing for 2022 of 2.2 trillion rubles ($27 billion), and it also said that the measures along with those taken by the Russian central bank on Tuesday will “facilitate a smoother adaptation” to the sanctions. 

On Tuesday, the Russian Central Bank said it would ease rules for banks, allowing them to use the exchange rate of Feb. 18 — before the big falls in the Russian market — when calculating their financial positions. Financial institutions are now also allowed to report shares and bonds at market value as of Feb. 18.

Some background: US President Joe Biden yesterday laid out what he called a "first tranche" of US sanctions against Russia for its moves, including on two large financial institutions, Russian sovereign debt and Russian elites and their family members. He said the moves would effectively "cut off Russia's government from Western finance."

The United Kingdom, European Union, Canada, Australia and Japan also announced fresh sanctions on Russia.

Earlier in the day, Germany said it halted certifying a $11 billion 750-mile pipeline that connects Russia directly to Germany. The Nord Stream 2 project was completed in September but has not yet received the final green light from German regulators.

The United Kingdom will provide Ukraine with more military support, including defensive weapons, according to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

"In light of the increasingly threatening behavior from Russia and in line with our previous support, the UK will shortly be providing a further package of military support to Ukraine. This will include lethal aid in the form of defensive weapons and non-lethal aid," Johnson told lawmakers in UK parliament Wednesday. 

Johnson also stressed that financial sanctions imposed by the UK will stop Russia "from raising sovereign debt" and will also stop Russian companies from "clearing in sterling and dollars on international markets." 

The UK on Tuesday said it is set to sanction members of the Russian parliament who voted in favor of recognizing the independence of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. Those sanctions are in addition to an earlier raft of measures against five Russian banks and three wealthy individuals announced by the British Prime Minister. Russia has called the sanctions "illegal."

CNN's Darya Tarasova and Samantha Beech contributed reporting to this post.

French President Emmanuel Macron recently offered rare insight into the demeanor of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who he said had “changed” in the two years since the leaders previously met in person, according to an Elysée source. 

Addressing journalists in Paris Monday following a televised national address by the Russian President, the source recounted what Macron had noticed during the leaders’ February 7 meeting in Moscow. 

Macron had told reporters on the plane back from the trip that he found Putin to be “stiffer and more isolated” when they met face to face in the Russian capital, the source said, adding that the assessment aligned with the impression Putin gave in the rambling speech announcing the deployment of so-called “peacekeeping” troops into eastern Ukraine.  

"That Macron had found at the Kremlin a man who was at the same time stiffer, more isolated and who, basically, had gone into a sort of drift that was both ideological and security-minded and who, in a certain way, was borne out today [in the speech],” the source said.

Macron has emerged as Europe's key broker in diplomatic efforts to avert war in Ukraine in recent weeks. The pair spent more than five hours locked in head-to-head talks during their meeting in Moscow this month.

Macron said at the time that he and Putin were able to find "points of convergence" over the crisis and that it was "up to us to agree, jointly, concrete and specific measures to stabilize the situation and to de-escalate tensions."