Russia announces sanctions against Biden, Trudeau

International Desk, Mar 15 (EFE).- The Russian foreign ministry announced Tuesday the imposition of sanctions on United States President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and other senior officials from those nations in response to similar measures taken by Washington and Ottawa against Russia’s leadership.

The US, Canada, and other Western governments have introduced a raft of sanctions against Russian entities and individuals in reaction to Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.

After a “series of unprecedented sanctions” that include excluding top Russian officials from US territory, the ministry said that Moscow was adding Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley to its blacklist.

Also barred effective Tuesday are CIA director William Burns, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Hunter Biden (the president’s son), and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

With the exceptions of Hunter Biden and Clinton, the extent of the restriction corresponds to those enacted by the US against Russians.

The foreign ministry described the move as an “inevitable consequence of an extremely Russophobic policy adopted by the current US administration.”

While announcing the sanctions, the ministry said that Moscow remained open to maintaining official contact with the people on the blacklist and would be prepared to admit sanctioned individuals to Russia for high-level discussions.

Regarding Canada, the foreign ministry said that along with Trudeau, Russia was barring Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, Defense Minister Anita Anaud, and “most of the lawmakers from the Canadian parliament’s House of Commons.”

Those additions bring to 313 the number of Canadians on Russia’s blacklist, according to the foreign ministry, which said that Canada has blacklisted 560 Russian nationals. EFE

int/dr