Russia sanctions VP Harris, Mark Zuckerberg, 27 other Americans Vice President Kamala Harris during a press conference, Feb. 10, 2021, at the Pentagon. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
The Russian government announced a new series of sanctions on Thursday targeting 29 U.S. individuals, including Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the sanctions are “in response to the ever-expanding anti-Russian sanctions, under which the Biden Administration brings an increasing number of Russian citizens – both officials and their families, as well as representatives of business circles, scientists and cultural figures.”
The Russian foreign ministry said the group of 29 U.S. individuals include “top leaders, businessmen, experts and journalists who form the Russophobic agenda, as well as the spouse of a number of high-ranking officials.”
The Russian foreign ministry also named Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine on its sanctions list. The Russian agency referred to Levine, who is a transwoman, by both her pre-transition name, Richard, and her current name, Rachel.
Others on the sanctions list include:
- White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain
- Evan Maureen Ryan – Secretary of the President’s Cabinet, wife of Secretary of State E. Blinken
- Margaret Goodlander – Adviser to the Secretary of Justice, wife of Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security J. Sullivan
- Robert Kagan – political scientist, husband of Senior Deputy Secretary of State W. Nuland
- Edward Price, State Department Spokesman
- Brian Thomas Moynihan – Chairman and CEO of Bank of America
- Kathy Warden, President and CEO, Northrop Grumann Corporation
- Phebe Novakovic – President of General Dynamics
- Michael Petters – President of Huntington Ingalls Industries
- William Brown, President of L-3 Harris Technologies
- Wahid Nawabi, President of Aerovironment
- Roger Krone, President of Leidos
- Horacio Rozanski, President of Booz Allen Hamilton
- Eilee Drake, President, Aerojet Rocketdyne
- David Deptua – Head of Research Institute “Mitchell Institute of Airspace Studies”
- Ryan Roslansky – Chief Executive Officer of the social network “LinkedIn”
- George Stephanopoulos (George Robert Stephanopoulos) – the host of the TV channel “ABC”
- Matthew Kroenig – Deputy Director of the B. Scowcroft Center for Strategic Security NGO
- David Ignatius (David Reynolds Ignatius) – journalist, expert at the Wilson Center
- Edward Acevedo – Former member of the Illinois Legislature, expert at the Wilson Center
- Kevin Rothrock – expert at the Wilson Center, editor-in-chief of the English version of the Meduza media portal
- Bianna Vitalievna Golodryga is a Senior International Analyst at CNN
Russia placed sanctions on the family members of U.S. officials after the U.S. sanctioned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two daughters and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s wife.
Russia previously sanctioned President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden and former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Those sanctions came after the Biden administration personally sanctioned Putin and other Russian officials.
The Russian foreign ministry said it would add more names to the sanctions list in the “near future.”
