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Topics: World News, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Ukraine
Hannah Smith
Vladimir Putin's two daughters have been sanctioned by the US following new evidence of atrocities committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.
Katerina Tikhonova, 35, and Mariya Vorontsova, 36 - the two adult daughters Putin has acknowledged - have joined the growing list of Russian oligarchs and businesspeople subjected to asset freezes and travel bans as punishment for the country's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The inclusion of Putin's two daughters is expected to be largely symbolic, as it's not known whether either has any significant assets or business interests within the US.
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Over the course of his two decades in power Putin has kept his family out of the spotlight.
Tikhonova - an academic and former acrobatic dancer - and Vorontsova, who is believed to work as a doctor, make almost no public appearances, and as a result it's unclear what, if any, impact their inclusion on the US's sanctions list would have.
The new sanctions package also targets the wife and daughter of Putin's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.
It will also ban all investment in Russia and increase sanctions on financial institutions.
CNN reports that a senior government official said: "Today we're dramatically escalating the financial shock by imposing full blocking sanctions on Russia's largest financial institution, Sberbank, and its largest private bank, Alfa Bank."
Plans for tougher punitive measures were accelerated after shocking images and testimonies emerged from Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, where Russian forces are alleged to have indiscriminately killed civilians, leaving them in shallow graves or lying dead in the street.
The scale of the atrocity has led to renewed condemnation from the west, however some countries have criticised the response of the EU and the US, saying that the proposed new sanctions do not go far enough.
"Coal, four banks (deswifted already), a ban on ports and borders (with exceptions) is not really an adequate sanctions package to the massacres that are being uncovered," Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said.
"A feeble response is just an invitation for more atrocities. It could and should be stronger."
Tikhonova and Vorontsova - both from Putin's marriage to former air stewardess Lyudmila Putina - are the only children publicly acknowledged by the Russia president. It's not clear whether he may have others.
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