Russia announces reciprocal sanctions against US and Canada News
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Russia announces reciprocal sanctions against US and Canada

Russia Wednesday announced new sanctions against US and Canadian officials in response to sanctions issued by the two countries against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The new Russian sanctions target members of the US House of Representatives and members of the Canadian Parliament.

When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, both the US and Canada immediately issued sweeping sanctions against Russian individuals and entities. The US and Canada have continued to issue new rounds of sanctions against Russia for their ongoing war in Ukraine.

Russia announced reciprocal sanctions against both the US and Canada in response to the sanctions.

Specifically, Russia announced new sanctions against 398 members of the US House of Representatives. A statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry said that all 398 US officials have been placed on a stop list, meaning they are barred from entering Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the sanctions were imposed on the basis of reciprocity.

Russia also announced new sanctions against 87 senators of the Canadian Parliament. Again, the Russian Foreign Ministry indicated the sanctions were a reciprocal response to Canada’s decision to blacklist and sanction all members of the Russian Federation Council of the Federal Assembly. Similar to the US officials, the 87 Canadian officials are blacklisted and barred from entering Russia.

In addition to the sanctions announced Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it plans to continue announcing countermeasure sanctions. These may include expanding the number of persons included on the countries’ stop lists or other reciprocal steps. The Russian Foreign Ministry did not elaborate as to what other reciprocal steps would be.