Why the US is targeting Putin's daughters Katerina and Maria

The United States' latest round of sanctions on Russia includes two new targets: Russian President Vladimir Putin's two adult daughters, Katerina and Maria, who US officials believe are hiding Putin's wealth.

Putin's daughter Katerina Vladimirovna Tikhonova is a tech executive whose work supports the Russian government and its defence industry, according to details in the US sanctions package announced on Wednesday, reports Reuters.

His other daughter Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova leads government-funded programmes that have received billions of dollars from the Kremlin toward genetics research, and are personally overseen by Putin, the United States said.

"We have reason to believe that Putin, and many of his cronies, and the oligarchs, hide their wealth, hide their assets, with family members that place their assets and their wealth in the US financial system, and also many other parts of the world," a senior US administration official told reporters.

"We believe that many of Putin's assets are hidden with family members, and that's why we're targeting them," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Reuters was not immediately able to reach Putin's daughters, their representatives or the Kremlin for comment.

Sanctions announced Wednesday also include the daughter and wife of Russian foreign affairs minister Sergei Lavrov. The US also banned Americans from investing in Russia, and targeted Russian financial institutions and Kremlin officials, in response to what President Joe Biden condemned as Russian "atrocities" in Ukraine.

Russia denies intentionally attacking civilians and says images of bodies in Bucha north of Kyiv were staged to justify more sanctions against Moscow.

Moscow says it is engaged in a "special military operation" designed to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine. Ukraine and Western governments reject that as a false pretext for Russia's invasion.

The extent of Putin's wealth is a sensitive subject in Russia. The Kremlin last year denied that he was the owner of an opulent palace on the Black Sea, as alleged by opposition politician Alexei Navalny in a video that draw a huge audience on YouTube.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in February that sanctions introduced against Putin himself were pointless.

"(Putin) is quite indifferent. The sanctions contain absurd claims about some assets," Peskov said. "The president has no assets other than those he has declared."

But US lawmakers believe otherwise.

"Putin and his oligarchs stow their dirty money in rule-of-law nations by purchasing mansions, mega-yachts, artwork, and other high-value assets," US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said a few weeks ago, while introducing legislation that offered cash rewards for information that leads to the seizure of assets held by sanctioned Russian oligarchs.