Russia banned UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other senior government officials from entering Russia due to the UK’s “hostile” stance towards the war in Ukraine.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and others 10 high-ranking politicians, mostly members of Johnson’s cabinet, were also vetoed by the Kremlin.
The list also includes the deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab; the Minister of the Interior, Priti Patel; the Minister of Economy, Rishi Sunak; the Secretary of State for the Armed Forces, James Heappey; the parliamentarian and former prime minister Theresa May; and Nicola Sturgeon, Chief Minister of Scotland.
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Moscow said the decision was made in retaliation for UK sanctions against it since the invasion of Ukraine began, which the Russian government calls “operation special military”.
In March, Moscow imposed a similar ban against the president of the United States, Joe Biden.
Last week, Johnson met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in kyiv as a “show of solidarity” with Ukraine.
“Strangle the national economy”
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the veto is due to “the rampant information and political campaign from London aimed at isolating Russia internationally”.
Moscow also accused the United Kingdom of creating conditions to “contain” the country and “strangle the Russian economy.
“In essence, the British leadership is deliberately aggravating the situation around Ukraine, feeding the kyiv regime with lethal weapons and coordinating similar efforts by NATO,” he added.
The British government responded in a statement that the United Kingdom Kingdom remains “resolute” in its support for Ukraine despite the move, adding that it condemned the “reprehensible actions” of Russia in that country.
The Chief Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, also reacted to the sanctions and described Putin as “a war criminal”.
Sanctions
Earlier this week, the UK and US governments announced new sanctions against Russia.
The sanctions included financial measures to affect Russia’s economy and penalize President Vladimir Putin, high-ranking officials and people who have benefited from his regime.
Countries NATO officials, including the UK and the US, are also supplying arms, ammunition and other military equipment to Ukraine, although they have ruled out sending NATO troops or implementing a zone of no-fly.
On Wednesday, the US said more sophisticated offensive weaponry would be sent to Ukraine as part of a package of $800 millions of dollars.
In response , Moscow warned Washington on Friday that there would be “unpredictable consequences” if it refused to stop sending weapons to Ukraine.
Analysis by Paul Adams, BBC Diplomatic Affairs Correspondent
Retaliation of this kind was always likely. Russia sees the UK as one of the international actors most intimately involved in efforts to support Ukraine militarily and isolate Russia economically and politically.
Russia’s move is unlikely to make a difference to the travel plans of the 13 British politicians. It is unlikely that any of them had a trip to Moscow on their agendas.
But the measure speaks of the growing anger from the Kremlin at the way the West responded to its invasion of Ukraine and its willingness to lash out at those it sees as having played a role in isolating Russia in the past: Theresa May helped orchestrate the mass expulsion of dozens of Russian diplomats from over 20 western allied countries after that in 124188094 Russia will poison a former Kremlin spy and his daughter in Salisbury.
Russia warned that further shipments of Western military equipment to Ukraine could have “unpredictable consequences”.
Vetoing political leaders is not exactly something unexpected. What worries officials in London, Washington and elsewhere is that Russia has the ability, and possibly even the desire, to resort to other military means, including the use of unconventional weapons.
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