WASHINGTON — The United States hit back at Moscow for its seizure of Crimea by slapping sanctions on more top Russian officials and oligarchs — and the Kremlin quickly responded by going after US lawmakers.
President Obama announced the restrictions Thursday, saying he was “deeply concerned” by Russia’s build-up of military forces along Ukraine’s border.
For the first time, the US also took aim at a Russian institution, Bank Rossiya, a $10 billion lender that administration officials called a “crony bank” catering to President Vladimir Putin and his pals.
“We’ve seen an illegal referendum in Crimea, an illegitimate move by the Russians to annex Crimea and dangerous risks of escalation,” Obama said.
Russia soon revealed its tit-for-tat response — a travel ban and asset freeze on lawmakers including House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Dan Coates (R-Ind.) and high-level administration officials.
But the Kremlin misspelled Boehner’s name as “Beyner” and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s as “Reed.”
McCain shrugged off the move.
“I guess this means my spring break in Siberia is off, my Gazprom stock is lost, and my secret bank account in Moscow is frozen,” he joked.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) saw her blacklisting as an honor.
“It will not stop me from using my power as chair of the Energy Committee to promote America as an energy superpower and help increase energy exports around the world,” she said.
Coates also joked about the ban.
“While I’m disappointed that I won’t be able to go on vacation with my family in Siberia this summer, I am honored to be on this list,” he said.
The 20 newly sanctioned Russians are members of Putin’s inner circle, including Andre Fursenko, an aide since 1994; Vladimir Yakunin, chair of the state-owned Russian Railways; and Sergei Ivanov, Putin’s chief of staff.
Others are brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, who got billions of dollars in government contracts for the Sochi Olympics, and Yuri Kovalchuk, the personal banker to many Russian insiders who have prospered under Putin’s rule.
Any assets they have in the US would be frozen. They also can’t do business with the US.
A new executive order Obama signed makes it possible to sanction entire sectors of the Russian economy, including energy, engineering and military hardware.
Meanwhile, pro-Moscow forces seized three Ukrainian warships Thursday. Shots were fired, but there were no reported casualties.
Ukraine began withdrawing its outnumbered border guards.
Additional reporting by S.A. Miller