Russia said on Tuesday it had put US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a dozen top US officials on a “stop list” that bars them from entering the country.

Alongside Biden, US officials on the list included defence secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA chief William Burns, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and former secretary of state and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The ban was in response to sanctions imposed by Washington on Russian officials. The foreign ministry later added Trudeau to the list of sanctioned individuals.

The measures appeared to be mainly symbolic, as the foreign ministry said it was maintaining official relations and if necessary would make sure that high-level contacts with the people on the list could take place.

Curbs on Lukashenko

The US on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Russian military leaders and people it accused of being connected to human rights violations while slapping fresh measures on Moscow’s close ally Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.

They were the latest sanctions imposed on Moscow since Russian forces invaded Ukraine nearly three weeks ago.

The US state department announced the sanctions on 11 Russian military leaders, including several deputy ministers of defence and Viktor Zolotov, chief of Russia’s national guard and a member of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s security council.

UK widens sanctions

The British government said on Tuesday it had added 350 new listings under its Russia sanctions regime and nine new listings under its cyber sanctions regime.

Among those in the latest round of sanctions were Andrey Melnichenko, who owned major fertiliser producer EuroChem Group and coal company SUEK, Pyotr Aven, an oil investor.