On Tuesday, Russia placed sanctions on almost two dozen additional well-known individuals, including politicians and academics, including Jill and Ashley Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden.
The mostly symbolic action was done in reaction to the US sanctions against prominent Russian public and political figures, according to a statement from Moscow’s Foreign Ministry.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Ben Sasse (R-Neb. ), and Martin Heinrich are among the 25 Americans who have been placed on the Kremlin’s infamous stop list (D-NM).
The Foreign Ministry charged those MPs with creating a narrative that was anti-Russian.
The individuals on the list, which also includes well-known sociologists and historians, are prohibited from visiting Russian territory forever.
Prior to the president’s arrival in Madrid on Tuesday to attend the annual NATO meeting, Jill Biden, 71, is now in Spain with her two granddaughters, Maisy and Finnegan.
The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and important members of his inner circle, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his family, as well as other senior officials and billionaires, since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Six sets of economic sanctions against Putin’s government have so far been implemented by Western countries; these measures have essentially shut off Russia’s financial system from international banking, frozen elites’ assets, and restricted Moscow’s ability to sell its oil and gas supplies.
At a G7 summit on Monday in Germany, the heads of the seven largest economies in the world vowed to assist Ukraine for as long as it takes and planned fresh penalties against Russia, including an oil price limit and increased import taxes.
