Treasury Lifts Sanctions on Wife of Putin-Linked Oligarch Rotenberg

In early April 2025, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control removed Karina Rotenberg, the U.S.-citizen wife of Putin-linked billionaire Boris Rotenberg, from its sanctions list, while simultaneously imposing new sanctions on six other Russian individuals and entities. Karina Rotenberg had been sanctioned since 2022 alongside her husband and his brother Arkady, both childhood friends of Vladimir Putin. Treasury did not publicly explain the decision to delist her specifically, even as it added other Russia-linked sanctions the same day. The removal drew criticism from Russia hawks who noted it came alongside the administration's broader tariff actions against U.S. allies, prompting comparisons between tough treatment of trading partners and softer treatment of a Kremlin-linked family member. The mixed signal, sanctioning some Russian targets while quietly relieving another, became a data point in a broader debate over whether the administration's overall posture toward Russia during the Ukraine war was as tough as its rhetoric suggested.