Moscow: Some of the "500 Americans" Russia has barred from entering the nation include former US President Barack Obama, late-night host Stephen Colbert, and CNN's Erin Burnett.
According to a statement from Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the country on Friday announced it was forbidding "500 Americans," including many prominent members of US executive power, from entering "as a response to the regularly anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the Joe Biden administration."
Obama, Jon Huntsman, a former US ambassador, several US senators, and Charles Q. Brown Jr., who will likely succeed Obama as chairman of the joint chiefs, are all on the list.
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American late-night TV hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Colbert, and Seth Meyers are also on the long list of names.
In addition, the statement stated: "The attached 'list-500' also includes those in government and law enforcement agencies who are directly involved in the persecution of dissidents in the wake of the so-called Storming the Capitol." Numerous supporters of former US President Donald Trump attempted to block Biden's inauguration as president on January 6, 2021, and they also attacked the US Capitol.
A few months later, Russian President Vladimir Putin seemed to question the decision to detain the rioters, claiming they had come to Congress "with political demands."
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The list, which was updated on Friday, also includes CNN anchor Erin Burnett and names senior global affairs analyst Bianna Golodryga, chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh of CNN, and contributor Timothy Naftali of CNN.
Despite Paton Walsh being listed as one of the "500 Americans," the list was actually composed of British citizens.
In a statement posted to its website, the ministry defended the restrictions, saying: "It is high time for Washington to learn that not a single hostile attack against Russia will go without a strong reaction."
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The complaints against each individual were not specified, and it was not made clear what the sanctions would entail beyond an exclusion from the county.
Additionally, the ministry stated that it is still refusing American journalist Evan Gershkovich's request for consular access from the US embassy "due to the failure to issue visas to Russian journalists from the Lavrov pool," an apparent reference to the April visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the US.