The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and many of his Cabinet colleagues have been banned from entering Russia over their "unprecedented hostile actions" of imposing sanctions on Russia, according to the Russian foreign ministry.
Accusing UK of "Russophobic course" in the form of sanctions on the country in context of the Ukraine war, the Russian foreign ministry said it's adding 13 UK politicians to the "stop list". Besides Johnson, the other politicians targeted by the Russians are:
- Chancellor Rishi Sunak
- Home Secretary Priti Patel
- Attorney General Suella Braverman
- Deputy PM Dominic Raab
- Foreign Secretary Liz Truss
- Defence Secretary Ben Wallace
- Transport Secretary Grant Shapps
- Minister of Entrepreneurship, Energy and Industrial Strategy Kwasi Kwarteng
- Minister of Digitalisation, Culture, Media and Sport Nadine Dorries
- Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey
- First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon
- Conservative Party MP and former PM Theresa May
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The Russian foreign ministry said the list will be expanded in the “near future” to include more British politicians and parliamentarians.
The Russian foreign ministry said, "In connection with the unprecedented hostile actions of the British government, expressed in particular in the imposition of sanctions against top officials of the Russian Federation, a decision was made to include key members of the British government and a number of political figures in the Russian ‘stop list’.”
“This step was taken as a response to London's unbridled information and political campaign aimed at isolating Russia internationally, creating conditions for containing our country and strangling the domestic economy. In essence, the British leadership is deliberately aggravating the situation around Ukraine, pumping the Kyiv regime with lethal weapons and coordinating similar efforts on the part of NATO."
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“The instigation of London is also unacceptable, which is strongly pushing not only its Western allies, but also other countries to introduce large-scale anti-Russian sanctions, which, however, are senseless and counterproductive."
In March, the Russian government imposed a similar ban against US President Joe Biden in retaliation for American sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
The UK sanctions have included financial measures designed to damage Russia's economy and penalise Russian President Vladimir Putin, high-ranking officials and Russian oligarchs close to the Russian presidency. The UK has been at the forefront of rallying support for Ukraine, with Boris Johnson in regular contact with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and also paying a visit to the conflict-torn region.
With PTI inputs
