The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday hit back at the massive economic measures imposed by the Biden administration by announcing sanctions against President Biden, his son Hunter and other top U.S. figures.
Russia also slapped the financial and travel sanctions on Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, CIA Director William J. Burns, White House press secretary Jen Psaki and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“It won’t surprise any of you that none of us are planning tourist trips to Russia and none of us have bank accounts that we won’t be able to access, so we will forge ahead,” Ms. Psaki said in response to Moscow’s tit-for-tat sanctions.
Mrs. Clinton also took the punitive action from Moscow in stride. “I want to thank the Russian Academy for this Lifetime Achievement Award,” she joked in a tweet.
Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh, USAID Director Samantha Power, Export-Import Bank Chairman Reta Jo Lewis, and Deputy Treasury Secretary Adewale Adeyemo also made it onto the Kremlin’s sanctions list.
Under the penalties, these U.S. citizens are prohibited from entering the country and any assets they have in the country will be frozen.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said the step was “an inevitable consequence of the extremely Russophobic course taken by the current U.S. administration.” It also called the sanctions imposed by the U.S. “a desperate attempt to maintain American hegemony.”
“At the same time, we do not refuse to maintain official relations if they meet our national interests, and, if necessary, we will solve problems arising from the status of persons who appear on the ’black list’ to organize high-level contacts,” the statement said.
Russia vowed to expand the list to include other officials, lawmakers, businessmen, experts, and media who are “Russophobic or contribute to inciting hatred towards Russia.”
Ms. Psaki laughed off the sanctions at the daily White House press briefing, noting that Russia forgot to include the “Jr.” that’s part of Mr. Biden’s official name.
“President Biden is a junior, so they have sanctioned his dad, may he rest in peace,” she said.
The U.S. has hit Moscow with widespread economic penalties targeting Russian banks and government officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and oligarchs with ties to the Kremlin for the war in Ukraine.
Russia has also been cut off from the global financial system, including being blocked from the SWIFT financial messaging system. Mr. Biden has also banned Russian energy imports and revoked its most favored nation status.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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