The Russian Foreign Ministry has released a national stop list of 963 US citizens who, as a tit-for-tat measure, are banned to come to Russia, Trend reports citing TASS.
"In the context of retaliatory measures to the anti-Russian sanctions continuously imposed by the United States and in response to incoming inquiries about the individuals on our national stop list, the Russian Foreign Ministry is publishing a list of US citizens who are permanently barred from entering the Russian Federation," says the statement posted on the ministry’s website on Saturday.
A link to the list with the names of 963 individuals is attached to the document. Among them are US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, FBI Director Christopher Wray and other US officials, whose entry bans have been announced by the Russian Foreign Ministry earlier.
"We emphasize that Washington’s hostile actions, which boomerang back on the US, will continue to be responded in kind," the Foreign Ministry said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that the Russian countersanctions are involuntary and are aimed at "compelling the ruling US regime, which is attempting to impose a neocolonial ‘rule-based world order’ on the rest of the world, to change its conduct by acknowledging the new geopolitical realities."
"Russia seeks no confrontation and remains open to honest, mutually respectful dialogue, distinguishing the American people, who invariably enjoy our respect, from the US authorities, who foment Russophobia, and those who serve them. It is these individuals who are put on Russia’s ‘blacklist’," the statement concludes.