Senior administration officials told the Financial Times that a list of individuals and family members that would be hit with sanctions had been developed in co-ordination with US allies as part of the effort to punish the Russian president in the event of an attack.

“The individuals we have identified are in or near the inner circles of the Kremlin and play a role in government decision making or are at a minimum complicit in the Kremlin’s destabilising behaviour,” the US officials said.

The administration officials did not name the Russian oligarchs and family members in question but said that many were “particularly vulnerable targets because of their deepened financial ties with the west”.

“Sanctions would cut them off from the international financial system and ensure that they and their family members will no longer be able to enjoy the perks of parking their money in the west and attending elite western universities,” the senior Biden administration officials said.