Russia sanctions Biden, Hillary Clinton and top US officials

Russia responded to the US’s and EU’s sanctions by issuing sanctions of its own against top American officials, the Foreign Minister said on Tuesday.

The sanctions list includes President Joe Biden and Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.

“This step, taken as a response measure, is the inevitable result of the extreme Russophobic policy of the current US Administration which, in a desperate attempt to maintain American hegemony, has abandoned any sense of decorum and placed its bets on the head-on containment of Russia,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Hillary Clinton and President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, are also on the list, the statement said.

The Russian Government announced that it would soon apply more sanctions on US officials, lawmakers, business people and media personalities that the country accuses of “Russophobia”.

Russia also said, on Tuesday, that it was sanctioning top Canadian officials, including Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and more than 300 lawmakers and officials, Reuters reports.

READ: Time to lift ‘unjust’ sanctions on Turkiye’s defence industry, Erdogan tells Biden

On 25 February, the US and allies sanctioned Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, personally, over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The Secretary of Treasury will also be imposing full blocking sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund – a state owned financial entity that functions as a sovereign wealth fund, which is supposed to attract capital into the Russian economy in high-growth sectors,” the White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, announced via Twitter.

The Secretary of Treasury will also be imposing full blocking sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund–a state owned financial entity that functions as a sovereign wealth fund, which is supposed to attract capital into the Russian economy in high-growth sectors.

— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) February 25, 2022

According to an expert, these mutual sanctions might harm Russia’s economy more severely than the Cold War Era.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, said on Sunday that the sanctions are having a severe impact on Russia’s economy, AFP reports.