MOSCOW (Reuters) - Flattered to be in such company, Russian Railways boss Vladimir Yakunin said United States sanctions against him were proof of the service he had provided to Russia and President Vladimir Putin.

"It is clear they strike at those who have some worth," the 65-year-old wrote on his blog, seething with criticism of the United States which he said had acted "irrationally" and was targeting the wrong enemy.

"I am in two minds about this. On the one hand I am in good company. I cannot hide that I felt flattered. All the people on the list are notable people, people who did a lot for Russia," he wrote on Russia's LiveJournal blogging site.

"On the other hand, I cannot get my head round it, how sensible people, representatives of the Western establishment, even under the influence of political passions, can make such decisions," he said.

"It seems that overseas they long determined who exactly should be considered an enemy."

Twenty Russians were targeted on an expanded US sanctions list announced by President Barack Obama on Thursday in response to Russia's moves to annex the Ukrainian region of Crimea.