In response to a new round of US sanctions, Russia announced Friday that 500 Americans, including former President Barack Obama and comedian Stephen Colbert, would be barred from entering the country.
The Foreign Ministry’s list did not include specific complaints against each individual. The offenses, according to the ministry, include spreading Russophobia, supplying Ukraine with arms, and officials “directly involved in the persecution of dissidents in the aftermath of the so-called storm of the Capitol.'”
The ban includes 45 members of the United States House of Representatives, Senators J.D. Vance, Katie Britt, and Eric Schmitt, as well as former ambassadors to Russia John Tefft and Jon Huntsman.
The ministry also stated that it had denied a US request for consular access to Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested and charged with espionage in late March. The ministry stated that this was in response to the US denying visas to Russian journalists who wanted to cover Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to the UN last month.
The most recent sanctions imposed on Russia include tighter restrictions on previously sanctioned individuals and companies involved in the war effort. The financial penalties have primarily targeted sanction evaders associated with Kremlin technology procurement.
