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Russia’s Foreign Ministry has published a reciprocal sanctions list of US citizens, consisting of 10 names, including: House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, Senator John McCain; and advisors to President Obama D Pfeiffer and C Atkinson.
These officials, along with another five named by the Foreign Ministry, are banned from entering the country.
The move comes in response to US sanctions imposed against Russian officials after the March-16 referendum in Crimea, which Washington considered “illegitimate”.
“In response to sanctions imposed by the US Administration on 17 March against a number of Russian officials and deputies of the Federal Assembly as a “punishment” for support of the referendum in Crimea, the Russian foreign Ministry announces the introduction of reciprocal sanctions against a similar number of US officials and lawmakers,” reads the statement published on the Foreign Ministry’s website.
The Ministry reiterates that Russia has “repeatedly” stressed using sanctions is a “double-edged thing” and it will have a “boomerang” effect against the US itself.
“Treating our country in such way, as Washington could have already ascertained, is inappropriate and counterproductive,” the statement said.
The statement continued: “Nevertheless, it looks like the American side continues to blindly believe in the effectiveness of such methods, taken from the arsenal of the past, and does not want to face the obvious: the people of Crimea, in a democratic way in full accordance with international law and UN regulations, voted to join Russia, which respects and accepts this choice. You may like this decision or not, but we are talking about a reality, which needs to be taken into consideration.”
Yesterday US President Barack Obama announced a new executive order imposing further on key sectors of the Russian economy and top Russian officials and businessmen.
The measures will impact Russian energy, mining, defence and engineering sectors.
The Russian presidential administration has focused on analysing new sanctions the US imposed against top officials, according to presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.
He said that seeing certain names on the US sanction list “is puzzling”.
“But whatever the names are, the presence of any of the lists is unacceptable for us,” Peskov continued.
“In any case, it will not take long for Russia to react,” he added. — RT
Crimea ascension ‘this week’Moscow. — All legal procedures governing accession of Crimea into Russia are to be completed this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday.
“Currently practical steps are being undertaken to implement the treaty signed by Russian, Crimea and Sevastopol leaders about accession of two new regions into Russia,” Lavrov told a meeting in the ministry.
He noted that Moscow would continue protecting Russians abroad with political, diplomatic and other legal means.
“We will insist that the countries where our fellow citizens live, fully respect their rights and freedoms,” Lavrov said.
On Wednesday, Russia begun to issue passports to the residents of the Crimean Peninsula.
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed the treaty with leaders of Crimea to accept the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as part of Russian territory.
Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, is set to ratify the treaty on Thursday.
Crimea, a Ukrainian autonomous republic that once belonged to Russia, held a referendum Sunday with some 96.6 percent of voters opting to join Russia. —Xinhua
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