Biden's wife, daughter among 25 more Americans banned from Russia

• Washington tightens sanctions on Russia.
• Russian foreign ministry says ban is result of US sanctions against Russian figures.
• List includes several university professors and researchers.

MOSCOW: US President Joe Biden's wife and daughter have been banned from Russia, along with 23 other Americans, the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

"As a reaction to the constantly expanding US sanctions against Russian political and public figures, 25 American citizens are added to a 'stop list,'" the ministry said in a note accompanying the list.

The list featured several US senators, including Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Charles Grassley of Iowa, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

It also included several university professors and researchers and former US government officials.

Reuters reported that Russia defaulted on its international bonds for the first time in more than a century, the White House said, as sweeping sanctions have effectively cut the country off from the global financial system, rendering its assets untouchable.

Russia's efforts to avoid what would be its first major default on international bonds since the Bolshevik revolution more than a century ago hit a roadblock in late May when the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) effectively blocked Moscow from making payments.

The US Treasury's OFAC had issued a temporary waiver, known as a general licence 9A, in early March to allow Moscow to keep paying investors.

The US let the waiver expire on May 25 as Washington tightened sanctions on Russia, effectively cutting off payments to US investors and entities.