Moscow has banned 500 citizens of the country from traveling to Russia, including former US President Barack Obama.
According to a report by the AFP news agency on Saturday, Moscow has taken this step in response to Washington’s sanctions.
A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia said, “500 US citizens have been banned from traveling to Russia in response to the regular sanctions imposed by the Biden administration against Russia.”
Earlier on Friday, the United States imposed sanctions against hundreds of Russian companies and individuals. The Biden administration is consistently taking such steps to “strangle” the economy of Russia, which has carried out military aggression against Ukraine.
“Washington should have known long ago that any hostile action taken against Russia will be met with an appropriate response,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Television hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers are among the US citizens targeted by Russian sanctions. In addition, CNN anchor Erin Barnett and MSNBC anchors Rachel Maddow and Joe Scarborah are also under the ban.
Russia says the blacklisted US senators, congressmen and policymakers are ‘involved in anti-Russian sentiment and disinformation’. In addition, the heads of organizations “involved in the supply of arms to Ukraine” are also included in the list.