Moscow has said it is banning Boris Johnson and 10 top ministers and politicians from entering Russia in response to UK sanctions.
This comes just days after the British government unveiled additional measures aimed at those who “support and assist” Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine – now in its seventh week.
Moscow’s action was taken “in view of the unprecedented hostility of the British government, in particular the imposition of sanctions against senior Russian officials,” the country’s foreign ministry said.
The blacklist includes Dominic Raab, Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Liz Truss, Defense Minister Ben Wallace, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, former Prime Minister Theresa May and Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
The Kremlin added that the move was in response to “London’s unbridled information and political campaign aimed at isolating Russia internationally, creating conditions for limiting our country and suffocating the domestic economy.”
In March, similar measures were taken against US President Joe Biden, along with CIA chief William Burns and Secretary of State Anthony Blinkon.
Since the illegal invasion of Russia, the Foreign Ministry has ordered the freezing of assets of the Kremlin’s largest banks, including Sberbank, military officers involved in the shelling of the besieged city of Mariupol, oligarchs and political officials.
This map shows the extent of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
(Images of the press association)
Last week, in co-ordination with the EU, the United Kingdom imposed a series of new sanctions on 178 Russian separatists in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, as the foreign minister vowed to crack down on those who “support and support” Putin’s military machine.
The government is also supplying the Ukrainian government with defense weapons, including anti-tank missiles, which have been used against Russian forces advancing on key cities.
“The British leadership is deliberately worsening the situation around Ukraine by pumping the regime in Kyiv with deadly weapons and coordinating such efforts on behalf of NATO,” the Russian ministry added.
Mr Johnson’s government has been criticized for failing to deal quickly with individual oligarchs and the flow of Russian “dirty money” linked to the United Kingdom.
But the Foreign Office said last week that the United Kingdom had already sanctioned more than 1,400 individuals and companies – including more than 100 oligarchs and family members – since the invasion of Ukraine.
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