The Daily Telegraph

New Kremlin sanctions list targets enemies of Trump

- By David Millward US CORRESPOND­ENT

RUSSIA’S latest sanctions list includes several enemies of Donald Trump as the Kremlin tries to woo the potential next president of the United States.

Michael Byrd, the Capitol police officer who shot a pro-trump rioter during the January 6 insurrecti­on, is among 500 names singled out by the Kremlin.

Lt Byrd, who killed Ashli Babbitt as she joined a mob trying to storm the Capitol, has made no public criticism of Moscow, unlike most other targets.

Mr Trump has pointedly refused to commit to supporting Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion should he return to the White House.

Instead, he has pledged to mediate and end the war in 24 hours.

Others on the Kremlin hitlist include Brad Raffensper­ger, secretary of state of Georgia, who refused Mr Trump’s request to “find” the 11,780 votes he needed to reverse his defeat in 2020.

Mr Raffensper­ger appeared to regard his being sanctioned by the Kremlin as a badge of honour, retweeting a posting from Gabriel Sterling, his chief operating officer.

He wrote: “A great honour for @Gasecofsta­te Raffensper­ger. He is one of the hundreds of Americans banned from Russia by Vladimir Putin. That means Brad is doing it right.”

Also targeted is Letitia James, New York State’s attorney general, who has pursued Mr Trump and his businesses in the courts. Again she has not spoken out in public on the Ukraine war.

At least seven people are believed to have died as a result of the insurrecti­on. In recent months the American courts have handed down heavy sentences to some of those convicted.

Mr Trump, who has used a recording of some of the rioters singing the US national anthem at his rallies, has indicated that he is ready to pardon some of those jailed.

Moscow has said its targets include “those in government and law enforcemen­t agencies who are directly involved in the persecutio­n of dissidents in the wake of the so-called storming of the Capitol.”

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