This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Russia has added U.S. President Joe Biden’s wife, Jill, and daughter, Ashley, to its list of Americans under sanctions in retaliation for Washington’s moves against Russia over its war in Ukraine.
The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said in a statement on June 28 that 23 other academics and U.S. officials, including Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, and Senators Charles Grassley, Kirsten Gillebrand, Susan Collins, Ben Sass, and Martin Heinrich, were also added to the list.
“As a response to the ever-expanding U.S. sanctions against Russian political and public figures, 25 American citizens are included in the ‘stop list’ from among the senators responsible for the formation of a Russophobic narrative, participants in the so-called McFaul-Yermak group, which develops recommendations on anti-Russian restrictions, as well as members of the family of President Joe Biden,” the statement said.
Those people on the list are banned from entering Russian territory.
The United States has led international efforts to impose far-reaching sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, launched on February 24.
Washington and the European Union have imposed sanctions against individuals, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, his daughters, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and members of his family, and several oligarchs linked to Putin.
They have also implemented crippling economic sanctions on Russia, such as cutting off much of its financial network from international transactions, freezing assets, and implementing a partial embargo on Russian oil imports.
