20th May 2023, Mumbai: The list made public by the Russian Foreign Ministry did not include details on the complaints lodged against each person. The former president Barack Obama and comedian Stephen Colbert are among the 500 Americans whose entry into the nation has been prohibited by Russia in response to a fresh wave of American sanctions.
The Foreign Ministry produced a list, but it did not disclose the specific allegations made against each person. The offences, according to the ministry, included inciting anti-Russian sentiment, arming Ukraine, and sending officials “directly involved in the persecution of dissidents in the wake of the so-called “storm of the Capitol,””
The 45 House members, Sens. J.D. Vance, Katie Britt, and Eric Schmitt, as well as John Tefft and Jon Huntsman, two former ambassadors to Russia, are all subject to the ban.
The ministry added that it had also turned down a request from the United States for consular access to Wall Street Journal writer Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in late March and accused of espionage. The ministry claimed it was in retaliation for the US refusing to provide Russian journalists visas so they could cover Sergey Lavrov’s visit to the UN last month.
Stricter limitations on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort are part of the most recent sanctions aimed at Russia. The financial sanctions have mostly targeted those involved in technology purchases for the Kremlin who have violated sanctions.
-by Kashvi Gala