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Russia bars entry to 227 US citizens in latest round of tit-for-tat sanctions – JURIST

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday announced sanctions against 227 US citizens. The group comprises an eclectic mix of individuals, from elite university professors to security and aerospace executives.According to the Foreign Ministry’s statement, these individuals were targeted for their roles in the development, implementation, and justification of Washington’s “policy of Russophobia,” in addition to other “anti-Russian actions.” The statement describes them as representatives of government, business, the media, and academia, who have distinguished themselves by way of “hostile outbursts or the dissemination of fabrications and flagrant slander about Russia’s foreign and domestic affairs.”The list contains a puzzling array of individuals from a broad swath of institutions, from environmental health nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance to security and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.Academia was targeted with particular gusto. Several universities featured disproportionately on the list, including Columbia, with 11 individuals targeted; the University of Washington, with eight; Ohio State University with eight; and Stanford, with seven. It was unclear how these 227 individuals were singled out and on the basis of what research. Several appeared to have been identified by outdated job titles and/or with misspelled names.The Ministry described the move as a response to the “constantly expanding sanctions imposed en masse by the American authorities against Russian citizens for their ‘support of the Kremlin and its special military operation.’” The latter euphemism is the Kremlin’s preferred term for its full-scale war against Ukraine.It appears these sanctions are limited to travel bans. This may not pack the punch Russian officials are hoping for; according to The Moscow Times, a 2023 review of official border data for the previous year revealed a 96.1% decrease in foreign tourism compared to pre-pandemic levels. The US State Department maintains a Level 4 travel advisory for Russia, warning US citizens not to visit the country for fear of harassment and wrongful detention.