CNN
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Former US President Barack Obama, late-night TV host Stephen Colbert and CNN’s Erin Burnett are among the “500 Americans” Russia has banned from entering the country.
Russia announced Friday that it is banning “500 Americans,” many prominent figures in the U.S. executive branch, from entering the country “in response to the regularly anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the Joe Biden administration,” according to a statement from Russia’s ministry. of foreign affairs.
The list includes Obama, former US Ambassador Jon Huntsman, several US senators and the next expected Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Charles Q. Brown Jr.
The walking list of names also includes US TV hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Colbert and Seth Meyers.
The statement also said: “The attached ‘list-500’ also includes those in government and law enforcement who are directly involved in the persecution of dissidents in the wake of the so-called Storming the Capitol.” On January 6, 2021, dozens of supporters of former US President Donald Trump attempted to stop Biden’s certification as president and attacked the US Capitol.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to question the arrest of the rioters a few months later, saying the people had come to the congress “with political demands,” Reuters reported.
Friday’s list also includes CNN anchor Erin Burnett and is an update to a previously published longer list of sanctioned individuals that includes CNN’s chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, CNN contributors Bianna Golodryga and Timothy Naftali.
CNN, Getty Images
Russia has banned CNN anchor Erin Burnett, late night host Stephen Colbert, former President Barack Obama and CNN reporter Nick Paton Walsh from entering the country.
While the list was labeled “500 Americans”, Paton Walsh is a British citizen.
The ministry justified the bans in a statement on its website that read: “It is high time for Washington to learn that not a single hostile attack against Russia will go without a strong response.”
It did not specify complaints against each individual or explain what the sanctions would mean beyond a ban from entering the county.
In addition, the department said it continues to deny a US Embassy request for consular access to US journalist Evan Gershkovich “due to failure to issue visas to Russian journalists from the Lavrov pool”, apparently referring to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s trip to USA in April.
