Russia’s Foreign Ministry has announced sanctions on United States President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alongside several officials in a reciprocal response to Western measures.
The measures, also applied to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, “are the consequence of the extremely Russophobic policy pursued by” Washington, Moscow said in a statement.
In a separate statement, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced punitive measures against 313 Canadians, including Trudeau and several of his ministers.
In response to Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, the U.S. banned Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov while adopting sanctions largely cutting Russia off from the rest of the world financially.
Moscow did not specify the exact nature of the measures, which it calls “personal sanctions” and a “stop list,” stating that they would be based on “the principle of reciprocity”.
Also on the Russian list are U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
On the list too are Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh, U.S. Agency for International Development chief Samantha Power, Deputy Treasury Secretary Adewale Adeyemo, and U.S. Export-Import Bank chief Reta Jo Lewis.
Russia also banned from entry Biden’s son Hunter and former secretary of state and Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The foreign ministry warned Moscow will soon announce additional sanctions against a range of “Russophobic” US officials, military officers, lawmakers, businessmen and media personalities.