So much for that “reset button.”
(NBC News) – Russia slapped sanctions on a pair of former top Bush administration officials, two former commanders of the Guantanamo detention center, and 14 other Americans in retaliation for a set of human rights sanctions the Obama administration imposed on a number of Russian citizens on Friday.
In a statement, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it was forced to respond to the American “blackmail,” which it warned would harm US-Russia relations. The Kremlin had prepared a list of over 100 American officials in advance of Friday’s announcement, warning its response would be proportionate to the Obam administration’s actions.
The former officials included on the Russian list are David Addington, then Chief of Staff to former Vice President Dick Cheney, and John Yoo, a former Justice Department lawyer who wrote legal opinions justifying the Bush administration’s controversial policies on detainee interrogation.