Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and top US officials sanctioned by Russia in response to 'extremely Russophobic' measures

• Russia announced sanctions against a number of current and former US officials.
• President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were among those sanctioned.

Russia on Tuesday announced sanctions against prominent US officials including President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

A statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry said the sanctions were a response to the "extremely Russophobic course taken by the current US Administration, which, in a desperate attempt to maintain American hegemony, has relied, discarding all decency, on the frontal constricting of Russia," according to CNN.

Other US officials sanctioned by Russia include Secretary of State Antony Blinken; Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley; CIA Director William Joseph Burns; White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki; National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan; Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh; Samantha Jane Power, administrator of the US Agency for International Development; Adewale Adeyemo, the first deputy minister of finance; and Reta Jo Lewis, the president of the Export-Import Bank.

"At the same time, we do not refuse to maintain official 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 organize high-level contacts," the Russian Foreign Ministry statement said.

Clinton, in response, said on Twitter that she wants to "thank the Russian Academy for this Lifetime Achievement Award."

—Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 15, 2022

The sanctions are primarily symbolic, but are indicative of the historic tensions between the US and Russia. The dynamic between Moscow and Washington has not been this contentious since the Cold War.

The US and its allies have slapped Russia with crippling economic sanctions as a result of the war in Ukraine, as part of an effort to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin from the rest of the world. Putin and a number of top Russian officials have also been hit with sanctions.

It's rare for the US to directly target world leaders with sanctions. In announcing the sanctions against the Russian leader, the US Treasury Department in late February said, "President Putin joins a very small group that includes despots such as Kim Jong Un, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, and Bashar al-Assad."

The Biden administration has also ramped up security assistance, including lethal aid, to Ukraine. Since Biden took office, the US has provided more than $1.2 billion in military assistance to Ukraine. Biden on Tuesday also signed an omnibus spending bill, which includes $13.6 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine. But the US has remained firm that it does not want to commit US troops to the conflict, while warning Russia against moving a single inch into NATO territory.

Former President Donald Trump released an unusual statement on the sanctions against Biden, calling the move a "terrible thing" before going on to push an unproven allegation that Hunter Biden received $3.5 million from the wife of Moscow's former mayor. Trump has frequently praised Putin, recently lauding the Russian leader as "genius" and "savvy" over his justification for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.