In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden has imposed a series of financially devastating sanctions that have crushed the Russian economy and specifically targeted many of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government officials and wealthy oligarch supporters.
Sanctions are a two-way street, however, and Russia just responded with its own sort of blacklisting imposed against the U.S. president, nearly a dozen of his administration officials, and even the president’s own son, Hunter Biden, The Daily Wire reported.
The impact of those measures remains to be seen, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who was explicitly named in the Russian list, jokingly dismissed the action by Russia as no big deal and unworthy of serious attention.
Russia reciprocates against U.S. sanctions
According to CNN, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement Tuesday announcing that it had placed 13 prominent Americans on its “stop list” that, in theory, bears the same effect as the U.S. sanctions imposed on prominent Russian officials and oligarchs.
This retaliatory act, “on the basis of reciprocity,” was deemed necessary as “an inevitable consequence of the extremely Russophobic course taken by the current US Administration, which, in a desperate attempt to maintain American hegemony, has relied, discarding all decency, on the frontal constricting of Russia.”
“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’ in order to organize high-level contacts,” the statement continued.
Biden, his top officials, his son, and even Hillary Clinton named
Among the names on the Russian list was President Biden, Sec. of State Antony Blinken, Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, CIA Dir. William Burns, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and press secretary Psaki.
Also included are Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh, USAID Administrator Samantha Power, Deputy Treasury Sec. Wally Adeyemo, Export-Import Bank head Reta Jo Lewis, as well as Hunter Biden and even former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton — who arguably bears the most responsibility for sparking the current anti-Russia hysteria during the 2016 election cycle.
The Russian statement added that the above list could be expanded at any time to also include other “top US officials, military officials, lawmakers, businessmen, experts, and media people who are Russophobic or contribute to inciting hatred towards Russia and the introduction of restrictive measures.”
Psaki jokes dismissively about Russian response
Asked about these Russian sanctions during Tuesday’s press briefing, Psaki made it abundantly clear that the administration was not taking them seriously as a punitive retaliatory measure.
“I would first note that President Biden is a junior, so they may — may have sanctioned his dad. May he rest in peace,” Psaki joked. “The second piece, I would say, is that — 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.”
She later acknowledged, however, that “I don’t know how their sanctioning process works; I only know how our sanctioning process works,” but nonetheless continued to dismiss the Russian retaliatory sanctions as a non-factor in the view of the administration.
