‘A badge of honor’: Malliotakis among Russia-sanctioned members of Congress
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Russia announced Wednesday that it would sanction hundreds of U.S. lawmakers as tensions continue to escalate with the European nation.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) was among the 398 members of the House and Senate sanctioned in a pre-emptive response to another wave of American sanctions against Russia that President Biden’s administration announced March 24.
“Today I was permanently sanctioned by Russia for my support of the people of Ukraine and outspoken opposition to Putin’s unlawful and inhumane invasion,” she tweeted. “I’ll consider it a badge of honor.”
Previously, Russia sanctioned senior leadership in the House and Senate, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), according to a media release from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Malliotakis has called for a number of steps to be taken against the belligerent nation, including urging a ban on Russian energy imports, along with tougher economic sanctions and removal of the country from the United Nations’ Human Rights and Security Councils.
Russia, along with the United States, France, Great Britain and China, have had permanent seats on the Security Council since the U.N.’s founding after World War II.
Malliotakis has also worked to get families out of Ukraine as people continue to suffer from the ongoing war, including a Great Kills man named Ivan and his Ukrainian-national wife who’d been trying to flee the country since before the war started.
“We’ve been working with them for a couple months leading up to the president urging Americans to evacuate. The issue is, obviously Ivan doesn’t want to leave his wife behind in a war-torn country,” Malliotakis told the Advance/SILive.com in early March.
In coordination with the European Union and G7 nations, the Biden administration’s sanctions announced in March target 400 Russian elites, Duma members and defense companies, according to a White House fact sheet.
The G7 is comprised of the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, France, Germany and Japan. The Duma is Russia’s lower legislative house.
On Tuesday, Biden equated Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with genocide, as Air Force One prepared to depart Iowa, and on Thursday, promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky an additional $800 million in military aide.
“It has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being — being able to be Ukrainian,” Biden told reporters Tuesday. “The — more evidence is coming out of the — literally, the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine.”