WASHINGTON — Vacated Mediterranean villas, marooned superyachts in search of accepting ports and billions in assets seized or devalued are just some of the headaches Russia’s kleptocratic elite now face over President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The so-called Russian oligarchs who surround the Kremlin – a small cadre of several dozen men who have made their riches thanks to connections to Putin’s government – are seen by U.S. and European officials as key to curbing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and potentially building a post-Putin Russia.
“Part of why I think it’s so important to go after the Russian oligarchs and the rest of the elite is that suddenly a bunch of oligarchs had to get on private jets, flee Monaco and the south of France and other places they have their homes and head back to Moscow,” said Max Bergmann, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.
“And they’re seeing potentially billions and billions of dollars in assets wiped out and seized. So you’re gonna have a disgruntled class of very rich and very influential businessmen,” Bergmann said.
In response to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, dozens of countries around the world have levied punishing sanctions on Russia’s financial institutions, including the Russian Central Bank. The backlash to Putin’s invasion has precipitated a financial crisis in Russia that threatens to throw the lives of everyday Russians into chaos.
Russia’s ultra-wealthy have also…
