In a statement, the Foreign Ministry described the sanctions as a “mirror” measure in response to the Biden government’s imposition of sanctions on the entire Russian parliament on March 24. “These people, including the leadership and the chairmen of the lower house committees of the US Congress, are included in the Russian ‘stop list’ on an ongoing basis. “Along with other current lawmakers, to whom … entry into the Russian Federation was closed earlier, all US lawmakers were ‘listed’ on the reciprocity list,” the State Department said. The Russian sanctions list did not spare Republican MPs Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina or Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, both of whom voted against a bill that would impose further sanctions on Russia and Belarus last month. and Ms. Greene was also among the few American lawmakers to speak negatively about Ukraine, even as most of Congress has rallied to defend Kiev in the face of Russia’s unprovoked invasion. Last month, Mr Cawthorn told supporters in his home country that Zelensky was a “tramp” and said the Ukrainian government was “incredibly corrupt”, “incredibly evil” and a supporter of “awakened ideologies”. In a podcast last month, Green blamed Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Kyiv, calling it a “bear bite” and saying Moscow was “very successful in its invasion.”