WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is economically blacklisting five more Russians, including a senior law enforcement official in President Vladimir Putin’s government.
Under the sanctions, their assets are blocked and people in the United States are generally prohibited from dealing with them.
The new sanctions come three days after the U.S. released an unclassified intelligence assessment connecting Putin to the hacking of Democratic accounts in an effort to interfere with the 2016 election. Officials say the sanctions are unrelated to the hacking and are instead connected to a 2012 U.S. law to punish Russian human rights violators.
The most prominent individual targeted by the U.S. is Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s main investigative agency.
