RUSSIA has announced “reciprocal sanctions” on United States President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Deputy Treasury Secretary Adewale Adeyemo and several top officials.
The list of those sanctioned by Russia include 12 current and former government officials and Biden’s son Hunter, as well as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the reciprocal sanctions were the “inevitable consequence of the extremely Russophobic course taken by the current U.S. administration”.
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Others on the list include Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh, Administrator of the US Agency for International Development Samantha Power, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and US Export-Import Bank chief Reta Lewis.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley; CIA Director William Joseph Burns; White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and the National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan were also sanctioned.
The sanctions bar the officials from entering Russia and the ministry warned Moscow will soon announce additional sanctions against a range of “Russophobic” US officials, military officers, legislators, businessmen and media personalities.
Psaki, who was among the Biden administration officials sanctioned, told reporters during a White House press briefing that none of the US figures punished were planning tourist trips to Russia or have bank accounts impacted by the measures “so we will forge ahead.”
Earlier, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions on four Russian individuals and one entity it accused of playing a role in concealing events around the death of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky or being connected to human rights violations against rights advocate Oyub Titiev.
The Treasury statement also imposed fresh sanctions on Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and his wife, increasing pressure on Moscow and its close ally.
“We condemn Russia’s attacks on humanitarian corridors in Ukraine and call on Russia to cease its unprovoked and brutal war against Ukraine,” the head of the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, Andrea Gacki, said in a statement.