Since the start of the Ukraine war, the West and Russia have been heaping sanctions on each other. The Kremlin has now declared entry bans on almost 1,000 Americans. Among those affected are not only many US politicians, but also the actor Morgan Freeman – and a deceased.
First the USA imposed entry bans on individual Russians, now Moscow is also blocking a whole series of Americans. According to a new sanctions list from the Russian Foreign Ministry, 963 US citizens are now no longer allowed to enter Russia.
Politicians are mainly affected. Of course, the list includes US President Joe Biden, whose full name is Joseph Robinette Biden Junior. Biden shares his full name with his father, so the “junior” is important at the end. In previous communications, the Kremlin forgot about this addition.
Biden’s son Hunter Biden is also on the list, as is former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. Also affected by the entry ban are high-ranking US state officials, such as CIA director William Burns or ex-FBI chief Robert Mueller, who led the special investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Not all of the people sanctioned are still alive – including Republican Senator John McCain, who died of a brain tumor in 2018. And one more name on the list seems bizarre at first glance: Morgan Freeman.
However, it quickly becomes clear why Russia also declared the Oscar-winning actor “Persona Non Grata”: In a video message in 2017, Freeman called for an investigation into Russian interference in the elections a year earlier. A note on the list said Freeman was “a well-known film actor who recorded a video message in September 2017 accusing Russia of conspiring against the United States and calling for action against our country.”
