Russia imposes sanctions on 10 US officials

The Russian Foreign Ministry on March 20 imposed sanctions on 10 US officials.

According to RT, this list includes the names of several important figures such as House Speaker John Boehner, Senator John McCain and two advisors to US President Barack Obama, Mr. Daniel Pfeiffer and Ms. Caroline Atkinson.

All five of these individuals, along with five other officials, were banned from entering Russia.

The Kremlin gave its official response (RIA Photo)

Russia's move is in response to US sanctions imposed on its officials after Crimea held a referendum on March 16 that Washington said was illegal.

“In response to the US imposing sanctions on a number of Russian officials and lawmakers on March 17 for supporting the referendum in Crimea, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced a number of retaliatory sanctions against a number of US officials and lawmakers,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that Russia has warned that the use of sanctions is a “double-edged sword” and could backfire on the United States itself.

“Washington clearly understands that treating Russia in this way is completely inappropriate and can be counterproductive,” the Russian Foreign Ministry also said in a statement.

The statement also said: “However, the US side seems to blindly believe in the effectiveness of the above measures based on past sanctions, without wanting to face the obvious fact: the people of Crimea voted for the annexation to Russia in accordance with the democratic process and in compliance with all the principles of the United Nations and international law. Whether you like their decision or not, we are still talking about a reality that must be respected.”

Earlier the same day, US President Obama announced new sanctions against a number of leaders of Russian economic groups and top officials. These measures will affect Russia's energy, mining, defense and engineering sectors.

According to Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, Russia is focusing on analyzing new US sanctions on top Russian officials.

Mr Peskov said some of the names on the US sanctions list were “very puzzling”.

“However, any appearance of a Russian citizen on the US sanctions list is unacceptable. And in any case, Russia will not take long to respond,” Peskov said.

Also on March 20, 443 out of 446 Russian State Duma deputies voted to approve the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as new entities of the Russian Federation.

However, like the US, the EU also did not accept the results of the referendum in Crimea and imposed sanctions on 21 Russian and Crimean officials.

These sanctions may be expanded during the two-day meeting starting on March 20 in Brussels./.

According to VOV