The US Treasury announced that 96 Russian oligarchs and all Russian government officials, except for President Vladimir Putin is blacklisted. The new blacklist contains high ranking government officials like Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and even Putin's Speaker Dmitriy Peskov. The new list is prepared by the US Treasury and presented to the Congress. The list demands imposing sanctions on high ranking Russian government officials and top businessmen. The list shocked Moscow. Blacklisting all Russian government ministers was interpreted as "an attempt by a foreign country to exert political pressure on Russia". Russian President Putin's Spokesman Peskov said, "The US is trying to influence the presidential elections in March in Russia. They are trying to create some kind of intervention mechanisms for our internal affairs. But none of them will work".
Russian President Putin described the US blacklist as an "unfriendly" move, saying that "People who prepared this report are harming their government by disrupting Moscow-Washington relations". He added that "I am sorry that the blacklist doesn't contain my name", also added that Russia will avoid any retaliation to not to escalate this situation further. Putin used a Russian phrase that can be loosely translated as, "Dogs may bark, but the caravan goes on its own way", and added that "Russia needs to focus on its own internal affairs".