(Reuters) – Russia hit dozens of U.S. politicians and officials with sanctions on Wednesday in what it said was a retaliatory move for Washington’s support for Kyiv and a response to the West’s own unprecedented package of sanctions against Moscow.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it was permanently barring some 77 U.S. citizens from entering Russia, as it attacked Washington’s “hostile actions”.
The list is made up of 33 governors of U.S. states and a host of other mid-ranking state and federal officials.
The United States and its allies, including Britain and the European Union, have added hundreds of members of Russia’s political and business elites to their own sanctions lists since Moscow invaded Ukraine last February.
The West’s measures have frozen any assets of those named that are located in their jurisdictions and banned those people from entering their countries.
(Reporting by Jake Cordell; Editing by Gareth Jones)