The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry released an updated list on Saturday of 963 Americans who are permanently barred from setting foot in the Russian Federation.
Topping the list were President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, scandal-plagued son of the President Hunter Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Army Gen. Mark Milley, and left-wing billionaires George Soros and Mark Zuckerberg are among the other people joining Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the list.
211 of Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate — as well as 224 Democratic members of both congressional chambers, are on the ban list.
A statement from Russia’s Foreign ministry said that “Russian counter-sanctions are of a forced nature and are aimed at forcing the ruling American regime to change its behavior” and recognize “new geopolitical realities,”and accused of U.S. of trying to impose a “rules-based world order” on the rest of the world.
The statement decried “hostile actions” taken by the U.S. government, warning they will “boomerang back to hit the United States itself” and “will continue to receive proper rebuffs.”
The updated list ban list is a response to severe sanctions imposed by the U.S. following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian ruble is now the world’s top performing currency in 2022, and it’s up 11% against the U.S. dollar.
The ruble is the biggest gainer among 31 major currencies around the world, based on to data tracked by Bloomberg and reported by Business Insider.
Russia’s currency has also overtaken the Brazilian real, which is up 9% in 2022.
The ruble’s advance comes following Moscow’s imposition of a slate of capital controls to “prop up the economy to offset Western sanctions” over their country’s conflict with Ukraine.
Russia has been demanding ruble-payments for natural gas supplies from European countries and forcing exporters to sell foreign-exchange holdings, the report states.
