Washington: The US has lifted sanctions imposed on the wife of a Russian billionaire considered to have close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A statement by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control on Wednesday listed an update to its Specially Designated Nationals list, including the removal of Karina Rotenberg from the list.

According to Anadolu Agency, Rotenberg, a US citizen since as early as 2013, was sanctioned by the US in March 2022. This action was highlighted in an investigative series published in 2023 by the Dutch-based Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). The report detailed that in 2009, Karina married Boris Rotenberg, an oligarch and childhood friend of the Russian president.

Boris Rotenberg faced US sanctions following Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014. The recent move to lift sanctions on Karina Rotenberg occurs amid the US' Trump administration seeking the normalization of ties with Russia. This development also coincides with the disbandment of units tasked with investigating alleged foreign interference in US elections and a scale-back in the enforcement of sanctions on Russia over the war on Ukraine.