Russia slaps entry ban on US, Canadian officials, figures

The Russian government has slapped a new round of entry ban on top US officials, businesspeople and journalists, in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine war.

The sanctions list, published by the Russian foreign ministry on Thursday, includes US Vice-President Kamala Harris, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby, and 25 other American officials, and individuals.

“These individuals are denied entry into the Russian Federation indefinitely,” the ministry said in a statement.

Apart from American officials, Russia’s foreign ministry has also imposed travel ban on 61 Canadian officials, journalists and military figures for supporting the “Russophobic” stance of the Canadian administration.

The list of Canadians is headed by Cameron Ahmad, who serves as director of communications to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It also includes Canadian Special Operations Forces Commander Steve Boivin, Central Bank Governor Tiff Macklem as well as John Tory and Jim Watson, the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa.

They “directly involved in formulating, providing grounds for and implementing the Canadian ruling regime’s Russophobic policies are prohibited from entering Russia for life,” the foreign ministry said in its statement.

The Russian statement said the government took this step “in retaliation for the anti-Russian sanctions, being systematically introduced by the authorities in Ottawa, including bans on entering Canada and other discriminatory measures against Russian officials, military officers, experts and journalists.”

According to the Russian government, the sanctions against all the American and Canadian figures would remain in effect indefinitely.

The ministry’s statement also warned Canadian forces, fighting on the Ukrainian side, against committing war crimes, saying they would be punished for their behavior.

“We are warning the Canadian patrons of the Ukrainian military and nationalist battalions of the responsibility for the war crimes committed by their stooges. The perpetrators will be certainly punished,” the statement said.

The new measures come on the heels of previous bans imposed on Facebook and Instagram, which Russia depicted as “extremist” organizations.

MG