Navalny, the Russian opposition, is already under house arrest and was threatened with jail just for 'breaking his house arrest' by publishing the blog post about his ideas on who to sanction; even before any sanctions were actually applied. The he'd be held personally responsible is not that far-fetched.

As for the lack of real impact; you're probably right. Most of the targeted officials assets are in Europe, not the US, and Europe's list was much weaker.