MOSCOW — Russia on Tuesday imposed travel sanctions on a host of U.S. and Canadian officials.
The move, announced by Russia’s foreign ministry, is widely viewed as a reciprocal bid to restrict travel to Russia after Russian officials were similarly banned from entering the United States after the eastern nation’s Feb. 24 invasion of neighboring Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reported.
According to the ministry, Russia’s “stop list” includes the following 13 people and “individuals associated with them”:
- U.S. President Joe Biden
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken
- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley
- National Security Adviser Jacob Sullivan
- CIA Director William Burns
- White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki
- Daleep Singh, Biden’s deputy national security adviser for international economics
- U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power
- President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden
- Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
- Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo
- Reta Jo Lewis, president and chairman of the board of directors of the Export-Import Bank
The ministry also indicated that the list could be expanded to include “top U.S. officials, military, lawmakers, businessmen, experts and media people who are Russophobic or who contribute to inciting hatred against Russia and the introduction of restrictive measures,”, the Journal reported.
The ministry’s statement went on to explain that the retaliatory step was “an inevitable consequence of the extremely Russophobic course taken by the current U.S. administration, which, in a desperate attempt to maintain American hegemony, has relied, discarding all decency, on the frontal constricting of Russia.”
According to CNN, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday addressed Russia’s latest sanctions during a press briefing, suggesting that the restrictions will not have much of an impact on their intended targets.
“(I)t won’t surprise any of you that none of us are planning tourist trips to Russia, none of us have bank accounts that we won’t be able to access, so we will forge ahead,” Psaki said.
Psaki also noted that Russia’s statement on the sanctions omitted that “President Biden is a ‘Junior,’” joking that “they may have sanctioned his dad, may he rest in peace,” CNN reported.
The foreign ministry also said it was banning Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from entering Russia, as well as Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly and Minister of National Defense Anita Anand, the Journal reported.
The move came after Canada said Friday it was imposing new sanctions targeting Kremlin-linked oligarchs, including Roman Abramovich, the newspaper reported.
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