The Russian Foreign Ministry announced sanctions on 398 members of the House of Representatives on Wednesday in what is being considered an escalation of reprisals in response to U.S. sanctions over the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The list of sanctioned lawmakers stood out more for who was not included rather than who was, and the press release announcing the action vowed that “further announcements of Russian countermeasures are planned in the near future, involving an increase in the number of people on the ‘stop list’ and other retaliatory steps.”
“In response to the next ‘wave’ of anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the Administration of [Joe] Biden on March 24 of this year against 328 deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, which, taking into account the Russian parliamentarians previously included in the ‘black list’, constitutes almost its entire composition, ‘mirror’ sanctions restrictions are introduced against 398 members of the House of Representatives of the US Congress,” the release said.
“These persons, including the leadership and chairmen of the committees of the lower house of the US Congress, are included in the Russian ‘stop list’ on an ongoing basis,” the statement added. “Together with other current legislators, who, like Speaker N. Pelosi, were denied entry to the Russian Federation earlier, all US congressmen were subjected to ‘listing’ on the basis of reciprocity.”
Given the state of today’s politics, those not on the list can expect to be called “Russian assets” by some.
Russia announced it was “imposing sanctions” on 398 members of the US House of Representatives. Since there are 435 Reps in the House, it leaves 37 other Reps who now, are effectively “outed” as Russian assets.
— Duty To Warn 🔉 (@duty2warn) April 13, 2022
As for who wasn’t included, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Minority Leader Keven McCarthy, (R-CA), were not on the list.
Also ignored were House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, (D-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, (D-CA), chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, was also excluded.
Trump-hating lawmakers such as U.S. Reps. Eric Swalwell, (D-CA), Ted Lieu, (D-CA), and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), were also left off the list.
All four original members of “the squad” did make the list: US. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA).
The Kremlin sanctions follow sanctions imposed by the U.S. last month that targeted more than 400 people, including more than 300 members of the Russian Duma, members of the Russian elite, and those connected to Russian defense companies.
“President Biden is in Europe to continue our historic coordination with allies and partners on all aspects of our response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, including imposing further severe costs on those enabling President Putin’s war of choice,” the White House said in a statement. “Today, the United States is sanctioning over 400 individuals and entities comprised of Russian elites, the Duma and more than 300 of its members, and defense companies, aligning and strengthening our sanctions in close coordination and partnership with the EU and G7.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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