In response to personal sanctions from Washington, Moscow had banned more than 200 US nationals from entering Russia, including a sister and two brothers of US President Joe Biden, the Russian foreign ministry said on Friday.
As the statement says, the ban is decided on the basis of reciprocity, in response to all new personal sanctions imposed by the Biden Administration not only against Russian officials, representatives of business circles, and public, and cultural figures, but also those who for one reason or another are objectionable to Washington.
It said that, among others, it had banned entry by Valerie Biden Owens, James Brian Biden and Francis William Biden, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, US Senators Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi.
President Biden, his wife, and their children Ashley and Hunter were already on the list, just as was Nancy Pelosi and most of the better-known members of both houses of Congress that have joined more than 1,000 other American citizens forbidden from entering Russia indefinitely.
That list also includes two Hollywood actors – Ben Stiller and Sean Penn – who used their celebrity status to increase support for the Ukrainian government and held personal meetings with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky amid the ongoing war between Moscow and Kyiv.
Moscow justified its blacklisting of the actors – as well as a number of US politicians and business figures – as a response to the hostile actions of US authorities, which continue to destroy bilateral ties and escalate confrontation between both countries.
Also added to Moscow’s sanctions list of people barred from entering Russia are Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, Atlantic writer and Russia expert Anne Applebaum, Politico Editor-in-Chief Matthew Kaminski, and other American nationals, including lawmakers, corporate executives, establishment journalists, officials, and the family members of political VIPs.
All named individuals are banned from entering Russia for their involvement, as the Russian foreign ministry says, in promoting the Russophobia campaign and supporting the regime in Kyiv.
Be the first to comment