After Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent invasion of Ukraine, western countries including the United States universally condemned the uptick in aggression that upended global diplomatic efforts.
President Joe Biden lobbed some of the harshest sanctions in American history targeting the Russian government, Russian financial institutions, the Russian oil market, and Russian oligarchs, and further played a key role in talks with European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries to do the same.
Now, the Kremlin has issued some sanctions of its own, targeting a laundry list of American officials including Biden himself, as well as Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley, and others, banning them from setting foot in Russia.
There's another notable name on the list: former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Throughout the 2016 campaign, ahead of her defeat at the hands of then-candidate Donald Trump, Clinton warned that Trump would be a "puppet" for Russian interests. That year, the Kremlin hacked the personal email of Clinton's campaign chair, John Podesta, in a move Clinton said was due to Putin's "personal beef" against her for claiming in 2011, as Secretary of State, that Russia's parliamentary elections were rigged.
For her part, Clinton didn't seem bothered by the sanctions, and even thanked Russia for what she called a "lifetime achievement award."
I want to thank the Russian Academy for this Lifetime Achievement Award. https://t.co/4og9S3OCEp
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 15, 2022
Social media users cackled at her retort.
She remains: Thee. Best. 🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/cW3Sbp89Wz
— Rebecca Greenblatt 🇺🇦 🌻 (@BeckstaBex) March 15, 2022
Best response https://t.co/miPHNO9Mlt
— Katie Hill (@KatieHill4CA) March 15, 2022
Perfect. https://t.co/eT88taqPgv
— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) March 15, 2022
Hillary is my type of troll…and president. 🤭 https://t.co/aznASNKuKe
— J. Thibodeaux (@Thibs27) March 15, 2022
Even if you don't like @HillaryClinton, you have to admit this is pretty hilarious. https://t.co/BndhxBNG7o
— Chad A. Morin (@ChadAMorin) March 15, 2022
Others noticed a glaring omission from the list.
Putin sanctions former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton but not former President Donald Trump go figure https://t.co/rd5goqiG62
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) March 15, 2022
Odd that a certain Donald John Trump isn't on the list, considering how tough he was with Pooty 🤔 https://t.co/vc96Hx7pSt
— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) March 15, 2022
Weird how Russia isn’t imposing sanctions on the Trump family https://t.co/FBs5Xh1gUp
— Bill Grueskin (@BGrueskin) March 15, 2022
Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton are sanctioned by Russia. Donald Trump is not. https://t.co/lnFl2u1XQL
— What Biden Has Done 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 (@What46HasDone) March 15, 2022
Interestingly enough, in responding to the sanctions, White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted that Biden's full name is actually "Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.," joking that the sanctions omitted the "Jr." and had technically sanctioned his father, who died in 2002.