Russia has added 39 British nationals to its list of individuals banned from entering the country.
Among those included on the list are former U.K. prime minister David Cameron, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, and Foreign and Commonwealth Office communications director Helen Bower-Easton, as well as The Times columnist David Aaronovitch and The Economist deputy editor Edward Carr.
“Taking into account the destructive desire of London to spin the sanctions flywheel under far-fetched and absurd pretexts, work on expanding Russia’s ‘stop list’ will continue,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement announcing the bans.
In a separate move, the Russian Prosecutor’s General Office on Monday deemed the London-based Calvert 22 Foundation as an “undesirable” organization, state-run Interfax reported.
The Prosecutor’s Office said Calvert 22 — which promoted Russian arts and culture, particularly through its Calvert Journal publication — “pose[s] a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and the security of the Russian Federation.”
The Calvert Journal suspended publication indefinitely following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Organizations branded “undesirable” are required to disband within Russia, and any Russian who cooperates with them or cites their work faces criminal prosecution.
Russia has added a total of 216 British nationals, including outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to its so-called ‘stop list’ of individuals barred entry into the country.