Russia blacklists 398 US House of Representatives members, including Pelosi
Russia stresses that its sanctions were imposed on a reciprocal basis and in response to the US sanctions on the country and its officials and Duma members.
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US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Russia has imposed sanctions on 398 members of the House of Representatives of the United States in response to the sanctions Washington imposed on the country, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
"Tit-for-tat restrictions have been introduced on 398 members of the House of Representatives of the US Congress in response to another wave of sanctions that the Joe Biden administration imposed on Russia," the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The sanctions in question are those the United States passed on March 24, which targeted 328 members of the State Duma, which, given earlier sanctions, meant that nearly all of the legislative body's members were blacklisted.
"The individuals in question, including top officials and committee chairpersons in the lower house of the US Congress, have been blacklisted by Russia permanently," Moscow's ministry added.
The blacklisting includes many senior individuals, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and it bars them from entering Russia. "All members of the US congress have been blacklisted on the basis of reciprocity," Moscow reiterated, stressing that its sanctions were not unilateral.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the federation will soon announce new retaliatory measures, particularly expanding the blacklist, in addition to other steps.
The US and its allies had rolled out comprehensive sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, which included restrictions on the Russian central bank, export control measures, SWIFT cutoff for select banks, and closure of airspace to all Russian flights. Many of their companies have suspended their Russian operations.
The sanctions also included personal sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, among many other senior officials.
The House of Representatives had also passed a bill freezing normal trade relations with Russia, which passed by an overwhelming majority, marking another US attempt at trying to paralyze Russia's economy.
