Moscow Gets Tough… By Banning Boris Johnson From Visiting Russia

Just as the tourism industry recovers from years of Chinese coronavirus lockdowns, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will find his summer holiday choices curbed from today, after the Russian government announced sanctions declaring he was no longer welcome in the country.

Likely reflecting the occasional claims by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Britain’s Boris Johnson is one of Ukraine’s greatest international backers, Moscow has banned Mr Johnson from visiting Russia at all.

The stern punishment was announced in a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry that named 13 British political figures. As well as Boris Johnson — full-named in the statement as ‘Alexander Boris de Pfeffel JOHNSON’ — the Deputy Prime Minister, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, and Minister of Defence were named.

Even former Prime Minister Theresa May and devolved Scottish government North Briton leader Nicola Sturgeon made the roll of honour of British politicians “no longer allowed to enter the Russian Federation.”

Andriy Sybiha, an aide to President Zelensky, praised the United Kingdom as “the leader in the defence support of Ukraine” and Prime Minister Johnson as “the leader of the anti-war coalition. The leader of sanctions on the Russian aggressor.” https://t.co/W13e4xuGZe

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 9, 2022

Explaining their decision to block Johnson and others, the Russian government said Britain had undertaken “unprecedented hostile actions”, is running an “unbridled information and political campaign aimed at isolating Russia internationally… and strangling the domestic economy”, and is “deliberately aggravating the situation… shamelessly inciting the Kiev neo-Nazi regime”.

The Johnson government has long cast itself as leading the world in pushing for sanctions against Russia, and it appears Moscow agrees: accusing Britain of Russophobia, the statement said the United Kingdom was pushing its allies and instigating “senseless and counterproductive” sanctions.

The language of the ban follows earlier rhetoric from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier this week, who stated the West’s military support of Ukraine in recent years was the culmination of the “Russophobia” of Washington D.C. and European Union capital Brussels.

Laying out his charge sheet, Lavrov said on Thursday: “Ukraine was actively dragged into NATO, encouraged in every way to prohibit the Russian language, Russian education, Russian media, arrest people, persecute and even murder independent journalists, was pumped with lethal weapons.”

Russia says the list of banned Britons will grow in future. The list of British politicians banned from Russia so far, in order of appearance, is:

• Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson
• Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab
• Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss
• Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace
• Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps
• Home Secretary Priti Patel
• Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak
• Secretary of State for Business Kwasi Kwarteng
• Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Nadine Dorries
• Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces James Heappey
• First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon
• Attorney General Suella Baverman
• Former Prime Minister Theresa May