US removes seven Russian nationals, Turkish firms from sanctions list

The United States has removed seven Russian citizens, two cargo vessels and several Turkish companies from its sanctions list, according to the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Those delisted include Ivan Potanin, the son of billionaire businessman Vladimir Potanin, as well as Mikhail Klyukin, a member of Sovcombank's supervisory board, and Maxim Smirnov, Caliber.Az reports, citing the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The sanctions were also lifted on the Russian dry cargo ships Vyacheslav Arshinov and Gennady Egorov, both of which are linked to Russia's State Transport Leasing Company.

In addition, German Belous, Irina Kremleva, Viktor Nikolayev and Nadiya Cherkasova were removed from the sanctions list.

According to Forbes, all four are former senior executives of Otkritie Financial Corporation, which was sanctioned by the United States in February 2022.

The United States had previously lifted sanctions on former Otkritie chief executive Mikhail Zadornov, former board member Andrey Golikov and former supervisory board member Elena Titova after they left their positions at the financial institution.

The sanctions relief also applies to two Turkish companies — elevator manufacturer IDA Asansor and Dein Danismanlik Pazarlama Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, which had been accused of helping circumvent sanctions and supplying goods to Russia's defence industry.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov