Russia bans Boris Johnson from entering country amid war in Ukraine
Russia has banned Boris Johnson from the country, arguing British leadership was “deliberately aggravating the situation around Ukraine”.
The Kremlin said the move to ban the Prime Minister and other senior members of the UK government was due to the UK’s sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow said the decision had been made in retaliation to the UK’s sanctions against it since it invaded Ukraine.
Top government figures to be banned include foreign secretary Liz Truss, defence secretary Ben Wallace, deputy prime minister Dominic Raab, and home secretary Priti Patel. The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has also been banned.
Russia’s foreign ministry said its decision was because of “London’s unbridled information and political campaign aimed at isolating Russia internationally, creating conditions for containing our country and strangling the domestic economy.”
The statement continued: “In essence, the British leadership is deliberately aggravating the situation around Ukraine, pumping the Kyiv regime with lethal weapons and coordinating similar efforts on the part of Nato.”
The US President Joe Biden was banned from the country in March.
The Russian foreign ministry said the list would be expanded shortly and said UK politicians were “inflaming the anti-Russian hysteria.”
A spokesperson for the UK government told The Guardian newspaper: “The UK and our international partners stand united in condemning the Russian government’s reprehensible actions in Ukraine and calling for the Kremlin to stop the war. We remain resolute in our support for Ukraine.”