The son of Vladimir Putin’s chief propagandist is among 370 more Russians who have been hit with sanctions, as the UK warned it would begin to target the children of Kremlin cronies.
Nikolay Peskov, whose father Dmitry is Putin’s press spokesman, has had his assets frozen and can no longer travel to the UK.
The 32-year-old who grew up in Britain and was educated here, moved back to Russia to serve in the army, and later worked for the Russian television channel RT.
He joins a list of more than 1,000 individuals and businesses who are now the subject of financial and personal sanctions.
Among the other Russian oligarchs targeted by the UK are Mikhail Fridman and German Khan, co-founders of the powerful Alfa-Group, and Pyotr Aven, the head of the Alfa Bank. Between them have a combined estimated worth of more than £100 billion.
The UK has also taken action against a number of Putin’s political allies, including Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister, and Dmitry Medvedev, the former president.
Alongside Peskov, other propagandists to be targeted include Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign affairs spokesman, and the notorious internet “troll farm”, the Internet Research Agency, which was said to have interfered in the US presidential election.
Dmitry Peskov, who has long been accused of corruption, was hit by US sanctions last week and was added to the UK list as part of the latest crackdown aimed at tightening the screw on Moscow.
His second wife, Tatiana Navka, the Olympic ice dancer, and his daughter, Elizaveta Peskova, who is a social media influencer, have also been hit by the latest round of sanctions and have had their assets frozen.
Mr Peskov junior, who also uses his stepfather’s surname, Choles, was born in Moscow but moved to Britain with his mother in the 1990s.
He was educated privately in the UK, but in 2010 was sentenced to 15 months in a young offender institution for assault after he was convicted of punching a teenager in the face during a mobile phone theft.
In 2017, Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, drew attention to Nikolay’s lavish lifestyle in a blog entry that pointed to social media posts showing him posing with luxury yachts, private jets and expensive cars.
At the time, Mr Navalny wrote: “He doesn’t work anywhere but is buying apartments, Range Rovers, Ferraris and he travels and spends whole days riding horses. We know what his profession is called: the son of a corrupt father.”
Mr Navalny added: “Nikolai Choles is an example of how in Russia where 20 million people live below the poverty line, where 70 per cent of the population dream of a monthly salary of 45,000 roubles (£587) one can live happily at the highest level and at the same time not have to do anything.”
Nikolai’s half-sister, Elizaveta, has thousands of Instagram followers and uses the social media platform to boast about her lavish lifestyle.
In 2019, it emerged that she was working as a trainee assistant to Aymeric Chauprade, a French MEP who used to be a member of the Front National, the far-Right group led by Marine Le Pen.
The move to target the families of Russian oligarchs is part of a new push to bring pressure to bear on Moscow’s political and financial elite, according to a UK official.
Asked about the strategy, the official said: “Yes, there is actually quite a wide range, out of the 370, who are family members.
“We will be looking to sanction family members ourselves from now on as well, using these new powers (in the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act) to that effect.
“So there is a number of members, for example, of the big families like the Rotenberg family and a number of the Shuvalov family – (Igor) Shuvalov we sanctioned a couple of weeks ago.
“These kind of big oligarch families where the family members are also associated with the regime and very often benefiting from the regime, as well. So, yes, we are definitely including family members now.”
Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, said: “We are going further and faster than ever in hitting those closest to Putin – from major oligarchs, to his Prime Minister, and the propagandists who peddle his lies and disinformation.
“We are holding them to account for their complicity in Russia’s crimes in Ukraine. Working closely with our allies, we will keep increasing the pressure on Putin and cut off funding for the Russian war machine.”
