MOSCOW. Aug 18 (Interfax) - Fifty-four British citizens have been added to the Russian entry ban list in retaliation to London's aggressive anti-Russian policies, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"In response to London's aggressive anti-Russian policies, in which the mechanism of unilateral sanctions against citizens of our country and domestic economic operators is actively used, a decision has been made to expand the Russian stop list by including in it representatives of the political establishment, defense and security agencies, the professional legal community and journalists of the United Kingdom (54 people all in all)," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on its website on Friday.
The updated list, in particular, includes UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lucy Frazer, "who is actively lobbying for the international sports isolation of Russia," and Minister of State for Defense Annabel Goldie, "who is in charge of the supply to Ukraine of weapons, including projectiles with depleted uranium." The sanctions list also includes prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, British citizen Karim Khan, who is involved in the issuance of an arrest warrant for the Russian administration.
As follows from the Foreign Ministry's statement, it was decided to impose personal sanctions against the administration of the British private military and reconnaissance company Prevail Partners (Justin Hedges, Damian Huntingford, and Daryn Liddle), whose specialists "are involved in the collection and provision of reconnaissance information to the Ukrainian special services, including personal data of foreign and Russian citizens, as well as servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces involved in the special military operation." "According to available information, representatives of this company have visited Kiev more than once to agree on issues relating to the training of sabotage and reconnaissance groups for their subsequent sending to the combat zone," the statement said.
"With regard for the UK's active involvement in the information and propaganda support of the Zelensky regime, the updated list includes Russophobic functionaries and correspondents of the British media, in particular, representatives of media such as the BBC (Deborah Turness, Marianna Spring, Roslyn Atkins, Daniele Palumbo, Jason Horton), Guardian Media Group (Charles Gurassa, Keith Underwood, Emily Bell, Julian Borger, Daniel Boffey) and the Daily Telegraph (David Knowles, Mark Musgrave, Francis Dearnley, Colin Freeman). They are involved in the fabrication of anti-Russian libel for promotion in the media and the dissemination of false information about our country, they are trying to prevent and stop attempts of objective coverage of events in Ukraine," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The list of British nationals who are now denied entry to Russia includes representatives of the administration involved in anti-Russian activities of PR agencies, in particular, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (Alastair McCapra, Rachel Roberts), the International Public Relations Association (Philip Sheppard), the Public Relations and Communications Association (Rachel Friend) and so on, the statement said.
"We would like to reaffirm that any efforts by London to further fuel the anti-Russian sanctions will inevitably be followed by a resolute rebuff from our side," the ministry said.
The work to expand the Russian entry ban list in response to the British authorities' actions will continue, the statement said.
The measures declared on Friday are the third expansion of the entry ban list of British nationals this year. Thirty-six people, including the British foreign secretary, were included in it on January 12. On March 17, the list was expanded to include 23 representatives of the British army, judiciary and penitentiary system.