--- title: What To Know About Trump's New Sanctions Against Russia description: They're a response to Russia's "malign activity around the globe." canonical: https://time.com/5230713/donald-trump-russia-sanctions-explainer/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-04-06T17:33:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:53:48.702Z article:section: Politics og:title: What to Know About Trump's New Sanctions Against Russia og:description: They're a response to "malign activity around the globe." og:url: https://time.com/5230713/donald-trump-russia-sanctions-explainer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5cd53f9105c0866/69892cff8fd2ee0af235b3f1/gettyimages-942640468.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3954 og:image:height: 2224 og:image:alt: Russian President Vladimir Putin Attends Award Ceremony at the Kremlin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What to Know About Trump's New Sanctions Against Russia twitter:description: They're a response to "malign activity around the globe." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5cd53f9105c0866/69892cff8fd2ee0af235b3f1/gettyimages-942640468.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What to Know About Trump's New Sanctions Against Russia > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Apr 6, 2018 5:33 PM UTC  Russian President Vladimir Putin applauds during an award ceremony at the Kremlin on April 6, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin applauds during an award ceremony at the Kremlin on April 6, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. Mikhail Svetlov—Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Apr 6, 2018 5:33 PM UTC The Trump Administration announced Friday that it would [impose new sanctions](http://time.com/5230665/russian-oligarchs-us-sanctions/) on more than two dozen Russian oligarchs and senior political officials, as well as on several affiliated firms and a state-owned weapons trading company. The sanctions come in response to what the administration described as Russia’s “malign activity around the globe.” “The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement announcing the sanctions. “The Russian government engages in a range of malign activity around the globe, including continuing to occupy Crimea and instigate violence in eastern Ukraine, supplying the Assad regime with material and weaponry as they bomb their own civilians, attempting to subvert Western democracies, and malicious cyber activities. Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government’s destabilizing activities.” > [](https://twitter.com/SenJohnMcCain/status/982292274984792066) Here’s what you need to know. ## **Who is being affected by the sanctions?** The sanctions specifically target seven Russian oligarchs — business titans with de facto political power — and 12 companies they control, as well as 17 high-ranking officials in the Russian government. A weapons company controlled by the state and its subsidiary bank are also subjects. All these actors, the Treasury Department said, “benefit from the Putin regime and play a key role in advancing Russia’s malign activities.” Among the oligarchs are Kirill Shamalov, an energy magnate who was once married to President Vladimir Putin’s daughter, and [Oleg Deripaska](http://time.com/4709452/paul-manafort-donald-trump-vladimir-putin-oleg-deripaska/), a billionaire who previously had close business ties with Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign head. (Manafort was [indicted](http://time.com/5002415/paul-manafort-was-just-indicted-for-conspiracy-against-the-united-states-whats-that/) last October in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.) According to the Treasury Department, Deripaska is tied to at least seven of the 12 companies hit by the sanctions. ## **What do the sanctions entail?** According to the Treasury Department, all assets belonging to the impacted parties that fall within U.S. jurisdiction are frozen. On top of that, U.S. citizens are forbidden from transacting with them, at risk of facing sanctions themselves. ## **Didn’t the U.S. already issue sanctions?** Yes. The U.S. sanctioned 19 Russians over interference in the 2016 election just three weeks ago. These sanctions come after Congress passed [a law](http://time.com/4885802/donald-trump-congress-blame-russia-relationship/) last summer to sustain the economic offensive against Russia — a bill that Trump signed while holding his nose. “Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time & very dangerous low,” Trump tweeted then. “You can thank Congress.” > [](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/893083735633129472) ## **So what does this mean for the U.S. relationship with Russia?** It’s complicated. Trump has faced widespread criticism for his reluctance to act punitively towards Moscow over its interference in the presidential election seventeen months ago. The new sanctions suggest that his administration has acquiesced to pressure from lawmakers. Earlier this week, though, it was [reported](http://time.com/5224577/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-white-house-invite/) that Trump and Putin had discussed a potential bilateral meeting at the White House sometime in the future. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5230713/donald-trump-russia-sanctions-explainer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5230713/donald-trump-russia-sanctions-explainer/"},"headline":"What to Know About Trump's New Sanctions Against Russia","datePublished":"2018-04-06T17:33:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:53:48.702Z","description":"They're a response to Russia's \"malign activity around the globe.\"","url":"https://time.com/5230713/donald-trump-russia-sanctions-explainer/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5cd53f9105c0866/69892cff8fd2ee0af235b3f1/gettyimages-942640468.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5cd53f9105c0866/69892cff8fd2ee0af235b3f1/gettyimages-942640468.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Russian President Vladimir Putin Attends Award Ceremony at the Kremlin","caption":"Russian President Vladimir Putin Attends Award Ceremony at the Kremlin","creditText":"Mikhail Svetlov—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5230713/donald-trump-russia-sanctions-explainer/","name":"What to Know About Trump's New Sanctions Against Russia"}}]}] ```