Moscow, Russia – Moscow has expanded its stop-list as a retaliatory measure barring 54 UK citizens from entering Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, quoted by Russian news agency TASS.
The list now includes Lucy Frazer, UK secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, “who is promoting Russia’s international sports isolation.” Other UK nationals on the list include journalists from the BBC, Guardian Media Group, the Daily Telegraph, as well as Karim Khan, prosecutor with the International Criminal Court (ICC), involved in issuing an arrest warrant for the Russian leadership.
“In response to London’s aggressive implementation of hostile anti-Russian policy involving the active use of a unilateral sanctions mechanism with regard to our citizens and domestic economic operators, a decision was made to expand Russia’s stop-list by including representatives from the UK’s political circles, power structures, professional legal community and press corps (a total of 54 individuals),” the ministry’s statement said.
The Russian diplomatic agency added that any efforts by London to further spin the “anti-Russian sanctions flywheel” will be rebuffed by Moscow.
The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that, “under the conditions of London’s unrelenting support for the neo-Nazi Kiev regime,” the stop-list also includes the leadership of Prevail Partners, a British private military and intelligence company. “According to existing data, representatives from this company have repeatedly visited Kiev to coordinate the issues of training sabotage and reconnaissance groups for their subsequent deployment in the combat zone,” the Russian foreign policy agency noted.
The ministry emphasized that work on expanding the Russian stop-list in response to actions by the UK government will continue.