Joe Biden has been sanctioned by the Kremlin (Saul Loeb/AP)
(Picture: AP)Russia’s foreign ministry has announced sanctions against 13 senior US politicians including President Joe Biden and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
The US President will be barred from entering Russia under the sanctions, introduced in retaliation for harsh economic measures brought against the Kremlin after the invasion of Ukraine.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken, CIA chief William Burns, defence secretary Lloyd Austin and national security adviser Jake Sullivan are among those sanctioned.
They will all be banned from entering the country and all of their Russian assets will be frozen.
The Kremlin said the sanctions had been brought in response to US economic sanctions which have dealt a severe blow to the Russian economy as well as targeting oligarchs and key government officials.
However, the foreign ministry stressed it would maintain high-level diplomatic contact with Washington.
“We do not refuse to maintain formal relations if they meet our national interests, and if necessary, we will solve problems arising from the status of persons who appear on the black list in order to organise high-level contacts,” it said in a statement.
Future sanctions would target US officials, businessmen and “media people who are Russophobic”, the ministry said.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki dismissed the sanctions and said they would have no impact.
“I would first note that President Biden is a “junior” so they may have sanctioned his dad, may he rest in peace,” she told reporters.
“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.”
Mr Biden has not visited Russia since 2011 when he served as vice-president in Barack Obama’s administration.
Responding to the news, Ms Clinton tweeted: “I want to thank the Russian Academy for this Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Ms Clinton has not been to Russia since 2012 when she attended a diplomatic summit in Vladivostok.
Meanwhile, the US announced sanctions on 11 Russian defence leaders and also hinted that it could introduce measures against Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko.
President Biden will travel to Europe for a meeting with European leaders next week, ahead of a Nato summit on March 24.
