Moscow, August 29:
On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that 92 US people, including more than 20 journalists, have been banned from entering the country. The penalties have been imposed "in reaction to the Biden administration's Russophobic policy with a stated goal of 'inflicting a strategic defeat on Moscow,'" according to official media TASS.
Government officials, academics, pro-democracy activists, and heads of defense contracting companies and financial institutions that provide weaponry to Ukraine in response to Russia's war are among the US citizens on the list.
According to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry, the embargo affects certain journalists from the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.
Members of "editorial staff and reporters of leading liberal-globalist publications involved in the production and dissemination of false stories about Russia and the Russian armed forces and propaganda that covers up the 'hybrid war' unleashed by Washington," according to the country's foreign ministry, are among the individuals placed under sanctions.
Reporter Evan Gershkovich was freed earlier this month in a prisoner swap, and among the journalists named is Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker.
Along with the current or previous deputy editor-in-chief, head of the international news division, chief of the Kyiv bureau, former chief of the Moscow bureau, and a member of the editorial board, thirteen additional current or former employees of the WSJ are included on the list.
The list also included several reporters from British newspapers, four from the Washington Post, and five from the New York Times.
Sanctions also include US Space Command Commander Stephen Whiting, Space Systems Command Commander Philip Garrant, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb.
More than 2,000 Americans, including some US politicians, have already been refused access to the nation due to the sanctions.
According to the Russian foreign ministry, this is a response to the "insane sanctions frenzy of the American ruling elite." They claim that the practice of adding individuals directly involved in anti-Russian activities to the list of people under entry bans will be continued with determination and consistency.
Whether they directly encourage Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy and his "sidekicks" to "commit acts of aggression and terrorist attacks or represent attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation," the statement from the ministry warned the "current US authorities that punishment is inevitable for hostile acts."
Those "whose products and services enable Russia to sustain its military efforts and evade sanctions" have been singled out by the US Treasury Department, which recently made the announcement.
Pavel Belousov, the son of Russia's defense minister Andrey Belousov, is one of 34 Russians named on the sanctions list that was unveiled on August 23.
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the United States Department of Commerce has also said that it will be aggressively limiting the supply of US-origin and "US branded" (i.e., labeled) goods to Russia and Belarus in response to the "Kremlin's illegal war on Ukraine."
A total of 123 entities from various countries have been added to the Entity List by BIS. Of these, 63 are from Russia or the Crimean Region of Ukraine, 42 are from China (including Hong Kong), and 14 are from Turkey, Iran, or Cyprus.
The BIS has added 1,056 entries to the Entity List since March 2022 in response to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and his ongoing aggression against the country.
