MOSCOW: Russia’s foreign ministry on Wednesday banned entry to Russia for 92 U.S. citizens including journalists, lawyers, and the heads of what it said were key military-industrial firms.
The list, published on Telegram by the ministry, included 14 Wall Street Journal employees, five senior journalists from the New York Times and four from the Washington Post. It also listed several state prosecutors, employees of U.S. defence industry firms and university professors.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it was targeting editorial staff and reporters from “leading liberal-globalist publications” involved in producing and disseminating what it described as “fakes” about the Russian armed forces.
🇷🇺👏Russia slaps entry ban on 23 US journalists:
14 Wall Street Journal reporters, 5 New York Times journalists and 4 from the Washington Post are banned from entering Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced.
Russia is closing entry to 92 US citizens in response to the… https://t.co/JQ7OGGmfyi pic.twitter.com/bN3U1r6im9— ⏳Towhee 🌏☮️ (@amborin) August 28, 2024
It said the bans were in response to the Biden administration’s “Russophobic course”, a key part of which has been sweeping sanctions on Russian politicians, business figures, scientists and journalists.
“We remind the current U.S. authorities about the inevitability of punishment for hostile actions, whether it is direct encouragement of (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy and his henchmen to commit acts of aggression and terrorist attacks, or attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation,” the ministry said.
Russia casts what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine as part of a broader struggle with the West, which it says wants to bring Russia to its knees. Kyiv and the West reject this and accuse Russia of waging an illegal war of conquest.
On Tuesday, Russia said the West was playing with fire by considering allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with Western missiles.
Moscow also summoned U.S. Charge d’Affaires Stephanie Holmes August 20 to protest against the “provocative actions” of American journalists reporting from Russia’s Kursk region. She was told that the reporters had crossed illegally into the region, where Ukrainian forces mounted an incursion two weeks ago, and that Russia intended to prosecute them.
(REUTERS)
