Russia places sanctions against First Lady Jill Biden and daughter Ashley

Moscow has announced that is placing sanctions on the wife and daughter of US President Joe Biden.

The decision to target the First Lady is part of a new package of restrictions announced by Russia on Tuesday against 25 American individuals.

The people on the list, including the Bidens, are banned from entering Russian territory on an indefinite basis, said Moscow’s foreign ministry.

The step was taken “as a response to the ever-expanding US sanctions against Russian political and public figures,” the ministry said in a statement.

Also on the list are prominent US political figures including senior Republican Mitch McConnell and fellow party member, Benjamin Sass.

Academic Francis Fukuyama, a Stanford University professor as well as author, is also included.

The latest announcement from Moscow follow previous similar travel bans on other individuals.

And they come in the wake of widescale sanctions imposed by the West on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February.

Some of the sanctions placed by the West have been directed at senior Russian officials, including the family of President Vladimir Putin, his daughters, as well as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and members of his family.

The sanctions against the Bidens were announced as the US president travelled to Madrid for a Nato summit which will be dominated by the war in Ukraine.