Russia has responded with fresh retaliatory sanctions, including travel bans on the United States Vice President, Kamala Harris, Facebook Chief, Mark Zuckerberg, the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, as well as Toronto’s Mayor, John Tory.

The wide-ranging list of 29 Americans and 61 Canadians released included several other members of the US administration of President Joe Biden and Canadian President, Justin Trudeau’s government, as well as several prominent media figures.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry, while announcing the sanctions said that the various business executives, politicians, scientists, and journalists will be “denied entry to the Russian Federation on an indefinite basis”. The Ministry pointed out that the list comprised people responsible for the US and Canada’s “Russophobic” policies due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which started on Thursday, February 24, 2022.

Facebook’s Offense

Russia’s sanctions against Zuckerberg followed earlier actions taken by the Kremlin to limit access to Facebook because of allegations that the social network was blocking access to several Russian news outlets.

The sanctions came after a previous round of sanctions which barred US President, Joe Biden, Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and Former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton from entering Russia. Russia shared the new punitive actions shortly after Biden announced the latest round of military aid to Ukraine, which is an additional $800m that includes more heavy artillery as well as tactical “Ghost” drones.

This latest package of financial and resource aid brings the total aid to Ukraine to more than $3bn since the invasion began. President Biden also announced that Russian ships would be banned from all US ports.

“This is yet another critical step we are taking in concert with our partners in the European Union, United Kingdom and Canada in further to deny Russia the benefits of the international economic system that they so enjoyed in the past.”
US President, Joe Biden

Beyond Harris (US Vice President), the latest Biden administration officials who are being targeted by Russia include Pentagon Spokesman, John Kirby and Deputy Secretary of Defence, Kathleen Hicks.

Others on the Russia list

The list of Canadians is headed by Cameron Ahmad, who serves as a Director of Communications to Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and Canadian Special Operations Forces Commander, Steve Boivin.

On Tuesday, April 19, 2022, Canada became the most recent country to sanction Putin’s adult daughters, who have been accused of hiding their father’s wealth.

Additionally, the US list also included prominent media figures, some targeting ABC News TV Presenter, George Stephanopoulos, Washington Post Columnist, David Ignatius, and the Russia-focused Meduza news site’s Editor, Kevin Rothrock.

Impact of Western Sanctions

The Western sanctions on Russia are intended to bleed Moscow’s economy and international influence amid the continuing invasion. They have also targeted members of Putin’s inner circle.

Some of the sanctions include banning Russian oil imports, partially removing the country from the SWIFT Banking System, and freezing the assets of Russian oligarchs suspected to have been aiding the Kremlin.