US Treasury lifts sanctions against major Russian businessman Anatoly Karachinsky

The US Treasury has removed Anatoly Karachinsky, co-founder of the IBS group, from the sanctions list. This should from a post on the department’s website.

This is the first time since the beginning of the war that sanctions have been lifted from a major Russian businessman. The US Treasury did not explain the reasons for its decision.

Karachinsky was included in the sanctions list as a member of the Supervisory Board of Otkritie Bank in April 2022. A few days later he left. Shortly thereafter, the businessman sold his share in the IT company IBS founded by him.

In 2021 Karachinsky with a net worth of $800 million occupied 149th place in the list of the richest businessmen in Russia according to Forbes. He is under Ukrainian sanctions; The EU did not introduce restrictions against him.

Alexei Navalny’s associate Leonid Volkov, in a column for the Economist in March, urged the West to develop a mechanism for lifting sanctions. According to Volkov, without this mechanism, businessmen who have fallen under the restrictions are forced to “remain on board Putin’s boat.” Shortly before this, Volkov himself resigned from his post as head of the international FBK due to the scandal with an appeal to the EU with a request to lift sanctions against the owner of Alfa Group, Mikhail Fridman.