Kremlin says sanctions on Putin's mysterious daughters are 'difficult to understand'

• Putin's top spokesman said the Kremlin was confused by the West's sanctions on Putin's adult children.
• The Kremlin said the new wave of sanctions would affect Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova.

The Kremlin does not understand the latest sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin's adult daughters, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday, Reuters reported.

Peskov said the sanctions were "difficult to understand and explain," and framed them as being part of a manic Western reaction to Russia in general, Reuters reported.

"Of course we consider these sanctions in themselves to be the extension of an absolutely rabid position on the imposition of restrictions," he said, per Reuters. "In any case, the ongoing line on imposing restrictions against family members speaks for itself."

Though the White House's Wednesday announcement did not name the individuals targeted, the Kremlin's official Twitter account said later that day that this was aimed at Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova.

"These individuals have enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people," the White House announcement said of all the individuals targeted.

"Some of them are responsible for providing the support necessary to underpin Putin's war on Ukraine. This action cuts them off from the US financial system and freezes any assets they hold in the United States."

The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office announced similar sanctions on Friday, saying they would target Putin's daughters and their "lavish lifestyles."

The European Union is also considering sanctions on the pair, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed EU diplomats.

The EU announced on Friday that it had adopted a fifth round of sanctions against Russia that would include "family members of already sanctioned individuals, in order to make sure that EU sanctions are not circumvented." The EU has already sanctioned Putin personally.

An EU spokesperson told Insider on Friday that the names of the newly targeted individuals would be made public later Friday.

Putin rarely speaks of his family, and Tikhonova and Vorontsova are the only names that have emerged in the public eye, despite rumors of other children.