For a select group of American politicians and advisers to the president there will be no selfies in Red Square, no tours of Saint Basil's Cathedral, no borscht, no Baltika beer and certainly no return to the Sochi arena where the U.S. hockey team won an epic victory over Russia in the Winter Olympics.
And they couldn't be happier.
Russia, in response to U.S. sanctions over the incursion in Crimea, has imposed a travel ban on nine American politicians and administration officials. And to that, House Speaker John Boehner says on Twitter he's proud to be included on the list.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is on that list too, along with Bob Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who took to twitter to boast about making the list. Can you say #humblebrag?
Yes, #sanctionedbyputin is a hash tag, though not yet trending.
Republican Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has made two trips to Ukraine in recent months, is also proud.
In a statement released later, he also sarcastically bemoaned, "I guess this means my spring break in Siberia is off, my Gazprom stock is lost, and my secret bank account in Moscow is frozen."
But the best Twitter response (so far) goes to Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., who snarked:
But it's not just American politicians laughing off sanctions. Earlier this week, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's deputy prime minister, took to his English language Twitter account to mock the first round of announced U.S. sanctions.
Here's the full list of Americans facing a travel ban:
White House advisers Caroline Atkinson, Dan Pfeiffer and Ben Rhodes, Boehner, Reid, McCain, Coats, Menendez, and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.
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