Russia says it is imposing sanctions on hundreds of US lawmakers and dozens of Canadian senators in retaliation for similar measures by Washington and Ottawa against more than 300 Russian legislators last month.
In two statements on Wednesday, the Russian foreign ministry said that Moscow was imposing sanctions against 398 members of the House of Representatives of the US Congress and against the 87 senators of the Canadian Parliament.
The ministry added that the sanctions were introduced to mirror the punitive measures by Washington and Ottawa on March 24 over Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, but gave few details apart from saying that all those on the list will be barred from visiting Russia.
The US sanctioned 328 members of the Russian State Duma – out of its total of 450 legislators – and Canada imposed sanctions on 351 members of Duma.
“New announcements of Russian counter-measures are planned in the near future, involving an increase in the number of people on the ‘stop list’ and other retaliatory steps,” the ministry further said.
The development on Wednesday came a few weeks after the Kremlin expelled some American diplomats from the country after Washington ordered 12 Russian diplomats out of the US late last month.
Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the West was seeking to sabotage ongoing peace talks between Moscow and Kiev by fueling “hysteria” over the alleged mass killings in Bucha.
Source: Agencies (edited by Al-Manar English Website)
