Russia sanctions Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and 10 others

MOSCOW, Russia

President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton and 10 other U.S. officials have been sanctioned by Russia in response to the sweeping sanctions imposed by Washington, the Russian government announced Tuesday.

The sanctions bar the officials from entering Russia. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement translated to English that the measures were “on the basis of reciprocity.”

Russian oligarchs, organizations and other entities have been targeted by the U.S., Europe and Canada in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin himself has been directly sanctioned, and the translated Russian Foreign Ministry statement Tuesday said that the reciprocal sanctions were the “inevitable consequence of the extremely Russophobic course taken by the current U.S. administration.”

The other U.S. officials now sanctioned by Russia are: Secretary of State Antony Blinken; Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley; CIA Director William Joseph Burns; White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki; National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan; Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh; Samantha Jane Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development; Adewale Adeyemo, the first deputy minister of finance; and Reta Jo Lewis, the president of the Export-Import Bank.

The ministry said in the statement that it would add additional names to the sanctions list in the future to target people who are “Russophobic or contribute to inciting hatred towards Russia and the introduction of restrictive measures.”

“At the same time, Russia does not refuse to maintain official relations if they meet our national interests, and, if necessary, will solve problems arising from the status of persons who appear on the ‘black list’ in order to organize high-level contacts,” the translated statement said.

In response to Russia’s announcement, Clinton tweeted that she wanted to “thank the Russian Academy for this Lifetime Achievement Award.”

None of the other officials had responded on Twitter as of 12:45 p.m. ET. Newsweek has reached out to the White House for comment.

Russia has also sanctioned a host of Canadian officials, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, for sanctions imposed in the wake of the Ukrainian invasion.

“Every Russophobic attack, be it attacks on Russian diplomatic missions, airspace closures or Ottawa’s actual severing of bilateral economic ties to the detriment of Canadian interests, will inevitably receive a decisive and not necessarily symmetrical rebuff,” the ministry said in a translated statement released Tuesday. - Newsweek