MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. Russia has banned entry to another 227 Americans involved in fostering and implementing the Russophobic policy of the current US administration, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced.
"In the context of retaliatory measures to constantly expanding sanctions imposed en masse by the American authorities against Russian citizens for supporting the Kremlin and the special military operation, the Russian Federation has banned entry to 227 Americans involved in the development, implementation and justification of the Russophobic course of the current US administration, as well as those directly involved in anti-Russian actions," the ministry said.
The ministry specified that the entry ban applies to specific individuals in the executive branch, the business community, the media and academic circles, "who are regularly involved in hostile attacks or the spread of fabrications and outright slander about Russia’s foreign and domestic policies."
"In addition to declaring a number of American humanitarian NGOs used by the US Embassy in Moscow to recruit "agents of influence" as undesirable in the Russian Federation the current expansion of the Russian stop list aims, in particular, to reinforce Washington’s reflexive awareness of the simple truth that any aggressive attempts will not go unpunished and will receive a decisive rebuff," the ministry said.
Russia’s stop list in particular includes US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, former US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan, former US First Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, FBI special agents Neil Somers and Aaron Steketee, Deputy Commander of the US Army Andrew Rohling, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Kathryn Huff, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie Cerqueira, Assistant Secretary Andrew Light, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Analysis, Grant Harris, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property Kathi Vidal, Assistant Secretary for International Trade and Development Alexia Latortue, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Investment Security Paul Rosen, Assistant Attorney General Bruce Schwartz Deputy and a number of other senior representatives of US agencies and departments.
Private security firms, weapons companies, media
The list also included representatives from American private security firms and weapons companies involved in the defense and aerospace industries, including the production of fighter jets and HIMARS missiles. Among them: the founder of the Blackwater PMC Alfred Clark, the president of the American company Lockheed Martin Global Shamala Littlefield,
Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Director at Lockheed Martin Global, Raymond Piselli, members of the board of directors of Northrop Grumman Madeleine Kleiner and Marianne Brown, executive director of Capella Space Payam Banazadeh, Jeffrey Wood, general manager of the American representative office of Kongsberg Protek Systems.
In addition, entry into the Russian Federation was prohibited for Washington Post columnists Joseph Marks, Joseph Menn, Ellen Nakashima, Tim Starks, special correspondent for the Voice of America news agency (recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign media outlet) Jeff Seldin, and New York Times journalist Robert Worth.
In total, the Russian stop list currently includes 2,078 US citizens.