Russia introduces sanctions against Biden, Blinken, dozens of other top US officials

Moscow has imposed sanctions on US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and dozens of other top officials, banning them from entering Russia in response to the Biden administration's "extremely Russophobic policy."

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced the sanctions on Tuesday, in response to the US sanctions against Russia and its tops officials.

The move to introduce the sanctions, which also targeted Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, "is the consequence of the extremely Russophobic policy pursued by the current US administration," the ministry said in a statement.

Among the targeted individuals were Biden’s son Hunter, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, CIA chief William Burns, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

The Russian ministry warned that Moscow would soon announce additional sanctions against a range of other "Russophobic" US officials, military officers, lawmakers, businessmen, and media personalities.

But it said that the door remained open for official contacts with the targeted individuals “if they meet our national interests.”

“We do not refuse to maintain formal 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 in order to organize high-level contacts,” the ministry said in a statement.

In response to Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, Washington banned Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov from entering the United States. The US and its European allies also adopted sanctions that have largely cut Russia off financially from the rest of the world.

On Tuesday, the US State Department announced more sanctions on Russia. It published a list of 11 individuals it said operated in the defense sector of the Russian Federation, including Viktor Zolotov, the commander-in-chief of Russia’s National Guard, and Alexander Mikheev, the director-general of Rosoboronexport, a state-controlled company trading in weapons.

The state department also threatened to “impose severe costs” on Russian military leaders in response to “widespread human suffering and casualties, including the deaths of innocent civilians” in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said last week that Washington “has declared economic war on Russia” after Biden announced a ban on Russian oil and other energy imports to “cut the main artery” of Russia’s economy.

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