RUSSIA has barred Joe Biden from entering the country and reclaimed Alaska as part of its territory, as Vladimir Putin responds to the mounting economic embargo on his dictatorship.
The limitations were imposed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the US President as well as 12 other senior US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The sanctions, which target Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and CIA Director Bill Burns, prohibit them from accessing Russia.
National Security Council economist Daleep Singh, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Biden’s son Hunter, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are all on the country’s list.
Meanwhile, Washington has upped pressure on Russia by imposing new sanctions on President Alexander Lukashenko, Moscow’s ally in Belarus, and 11 top Russian defence officials.
Psaki stated that the ban will have no effect since “none of us are planning tourist visits to Russia, and none of us have bank accounts that we will be unable to use, so we will go forward.”
Clinton also tweeted sarcastically, “I wish to congratulate the Russian Academy for its Lifetime Achievement Award.”
In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was acting “in reaction to a series of unprecedented sanctions” and was applying its own actions “on the basis of reciprocity.”
It went on to say that the steps were a “inevitable result of the present US Administration’s excessively Russophobic approach.”
The action comes after a member of Russia’s parliament demanded compensation from the United States on Sunday, including the repatriation of the country’s ancient colony in Alaska.
In 1867, the United States purchased the 586,412 square mile area from the Russian Empire in a deal known as the Alaska Purchase.
The US State Department has sanctioned Viktor Zolotov, the commander-in-chief of Russia’s National Guard, and Alexander Mikheev, the director-general of Rosoboronexport, a state-controlled firm that trades in weaponry.
On Sunday, Duma member Oleg Matveychev appeared on Russian official television, making a set of demands from both Washington and Kiev “once Ukraine’s demilitarisation is achieved.”
“We should consider about reparations for the harm caused by the sanctions and the conflict itself, since that costs money as well, and we should get it back,” Matveychev said on the TV show Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov.
“All Russian possessions, those of the Russian empire, the Soviet Union, and present Russia, which have been taken in the United States, and so on,” he continued.
Solovyov inquired as to whether the lawmaker was referring to Alaska and the historic Russian colony of Fort Ross, California.
“That was my next point. As well as the Antarctic,” Matveychev said. “We discovered it, so it belongs to us.”
Solovyov also appeared to endorse a nuclear strike on “those who took our money”.
He said: “I still think that those who took our money should be told, you have 24 hours to unfreeze our funds, or else we’ll send you what you know we’ve got.
“Your choice. Tactical or strategic, take a pick. You took our money, you’re the thieves, our talk is short with you: a bullet to the head,’ he said.
The first Russian colony in Alaska, called the Three Saints Bay, was created in 1784.
Alaska was sold to the US in 1867 for $7.2million, equivalent to $144.4m in 2021.
Fort Ross, three hours from San Francisco, was built by the Russian-American Company in 1812.
It was sold into private hands in 1841.
