The United States has put Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and his family on a sanctions list, according to a statement made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The reason for this are the serious human rights violations in Chechnya, which have been going on for over 10 years now, including torture and extrajudicial executions. Kadyrov was already on the US sanctions list, but was previously only affected by economic measures. Now the Chechen ruler and his family are additionally barred from entering the United States.

Ramzan Kadyrov has already responded to the U.S. decision on social media by posting a photo of him posing with two guns. The picture was titled: “Pompeo, the challenge is accepted. It will get interesting!”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russia would find a way to give the United States a matching response. “It is not going to be easy to send an equivalent response, but we will come up with something,” Zakharova said.