Russia said Wednesday it has added 92 people to its list of Americans banned from entering the country, including journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and several U.S. officials.
Russia’s foreign ministry said the ban was applied "in response to the Russophobic course pursued by the Biden administration with the declared goal of 'inflicting a strategic defeat on Moscow.’"
"We remind the current U.S. authorities of the inevitability of punishment for hostile actions," the ministry statement said.
The banned journalists, the ministry said, represent “leading liberal-globalist publications involved in the production and dissemination of ‘fakes’ about Russia and the Russian armed forces.”
Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker, who hounded Russia about the arrest and conviction of Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, was among the banned journalists.
“The Putin regime is farcically consistent in its all-out assault on free press and truth. This laughable list of targets is no exception,” a Journal spokesperson said.
Gershkovich was imprisoned in Russia for more than a year and was recently released in a Russia-West prisoner exchange.
Last week, the U.S. announced new sanctions on more than 400 entities accused of supporting Russia during its war with Ukraine.
The sanctions focused on firms in Russia, Europe, Asia and the Middle East accused of helping Russia avoid U.S. sanctions and enabling its war in Ukraine, according to the Treasury Department.
The timing of Russian ministry’s announcement also follows the recent news that the U.S. is moving to supply Ukrainian soldiers with defense weapons for Ukraine’s campaign against the Russian incursion.
Some information provided by the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
