US Sanctions, Russia Blacklists Vice President Kamala Harris And Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg

US Vice President Kamala Harris. (Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore)

JAKARTA - Just a day after Washington imposed the latest sanctions on Russia regarding its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow immediately responded by blacklisting high-ranking officials and journalists from the United States.

On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that 29 US citizens including high-ranking officials, businessmen, experts, and journalists, as well as spouses of high-ranking US officials, were blacklisted.

"In response to the Joe Biden Administration's ongoing US sanctions and continued targeting of Russians, officials, their family members, as well as businessmen, scientists and artists, a total of 29 Americans including high-ranking officials, businessmen, experts and journalists who make up the Russophobia Agenda, as well as spouses from a number of high-ranking officials have been blacklisted," the ministry said in a statement, launching TASS April 22.

Those blacklisted include US Vice President Kamala Harris and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

"Another announcement about a new expansion of Russia's blacklist will follow soon, as part of countermeasures against US hostile acts," the ministry said.

Earlier, the United States imposed new sanctions on dozens of Russian individuals and entities, including Russian commercial banks and virtual currency mining companies on Wednesday.

The US Treasury said it appointed a virtual currency mining company for the first time, along with more than 40 people, and an entity headed by US-appointed Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev.

"The Treasury can and will target those who evade, seek to evade, or assist in evading U.S. sanctions against Russia, because they help support (President) Putin's brutal war of choice," said the Undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian Nelson.

In addition, the US State Department has also imposed visa restrictions on more than 600 people in an effort to promote accountability for human rights abuses and abuses, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, barring them from traveling to the United States.

Three Russian officials were also hit with visa restrictions for gross human rights violations along with 17 others, hit with restrictions on charges of undermining democracy in Belarus.

"We will use every tool to promote accountability for human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law in Ukraine," Blinken said.