A ban forbidding 963 Americans from entering Russia, including top U.S. officials President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and CIA head William Burns, will be implemented, Moscow announced Saturday.
The travel bans only have a symbolic impact but form part of a constant downward spiral in Russia's relations with the United States and its allies since its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
On March 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin also imposed personal sanctions on 13 officials, including Biden and the country's diplomatic, military and intelligence chiefs.
Moscow said at the time that more senior U.S. officials, military, lawmakers, businesspeople, experts and media personalities, "who are Russophobic or who contribute to inciting hatred against Russia and the imposing of restrictive measures on it," could also face sanctions.
As relations continued to suffer, Russia also warned on March 21 that relations with the U.S. are on the brink of collapse and summoned the U.S. ambassador for an official protest against Biden’s remarks about Putin after the U.S. president referred to Putin as a "war criminal" the week before.
Since the beginning of the war, the U.S. has issued several rounds of sanctions against Moscow, and Biden has been vocal about Washington's opposition to Russia's invasion, particularly the treatment and deaths of civilians caught in the crossfire. In April, he expressed his belief that Moscow was trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian."
“Yes, I called it genocide," he told reporters in Iowa on Tuesday, April 12, shortly before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington. “It’s become clearer and clearer."
