- Moscow on Tuesday slapped sanctions on 13 political figures in the U.S.
- They range from Biden and his secretary of state and architects of the U.S. economic blockade of Russia, to his son Hunter and Hillary Clinton
- It comes as the U.S. continues to step up the economic blockade of Russia
- The State Department announced a fresh set of sanctions on Tuesday
The White House mocked the Kremlin on Tuesday, saying it had bungled the imposition of sanctions on President Joe Biden and that they would make no difference to U.S. officials who didn’t have Russian bank accounts anyway.
It came after Moscow slapped penalties on a string of senior officials – as well as the president’s troubled son Hunter Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they were being added to a ‘stop list’ in retaliation for the growing economic blockade on its economy.
I would first note that President Biden is a “junior” so they may have sanctioned his dad, may he rest in peace,’ she said during her regular daily briefing.
‘The second piece I would say is … 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.’
Clinton also saw the funny side.
‘I want to thank the Russian Academy for this Lifetime Achievement Award,’ she said in a tweet.
They delivered their comments during a day of diplomatic strikes.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slapped sanctions on Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, CIA director Bill Burns and a string of senior U.S. officials as President Vladimir Putin hit back at the growing economic blockade on his regime.
Just as the Russian announcement was released, Washington was unveiling fresh sanctions on President Alexander Lukashenko, Moscow’s ally in Belarus, and 11 key Russian defense officials.
The Russian move effectively bars Biden and 12 other U.S. figures – including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, C.I.A. director Bill Burns – from entering Russia.
Daleep Singh, an economist on the National Security Council who is seen as the architect of sanctions on Russia, also makes the list.