In a statement published on the foreign ministry’s website, Moscow said the sweeping action was a response to UK sanctions and the “spreading of false information about Russia”, as well as “London’s unrelenting military support for the Kyiv neo-Nazi regime”.
The list, which consisted of 54 British nationals, included Britain’s minister of state for defence Annabel Goldie whom Moscow said “was responsible for the supply of weapons to Ukraine, including depleted uranium shells”.
Russia also banned the culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, whom it accused of “lobbying for the international sports isolation of Russia”.
Among the journalists banned from entering the country are the Guardian correspondents Julian Borger and Daniel Boffey as well as Keith Underwood, Guardian Media Group’s (GMG) chief financial and operating officer. Russia also banned the chair of GMG, Charles Gurassa, and Emily Bell, who sits on the GMG board.
Senior British journalists working for the BBC and the Daily Telegraph have also been banned.
A Guardian spokesperson said: “In banning Guardian journalists and executives, the Russian government is simply demonstrating its disregard for a free and fair press. Guardian journalism is highly trusted the world over, and we will continue to report robustly on Russia and its invasion of Ukraine.”
Moscow has previously banned dozens of British journalists and media executives, including Katharine Viner, the editor-in-chief of the Guardian. The editors-in-chief of the Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and Independent were also banned at the time.
Also on Russia’s entry ban list was the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC), Karim Khan. In March, the ICC issued arrest warrants for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. After the ICC announced its arrest warrant, Moscow placed Khan on a wanted list in an act of retribution.
Russia has launched an unprecedented crackdown on Russian and foreign independent news outlets since its 24 February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as well as on foreign social media networks. Legislation was introduced soon after the war began to criminalise media outlets that disseminated “false information” about the Russian army.
In March, Moscow arrested Evan Gershkovich, a Russia correspondent for the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), for espionage, making him the first US journalist detained in Russia on such charges since the cold war.
He has been held since then in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison. Gershkovich, the WSJ and the US government vehemently deny the charges.
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