Russia has officially permanently banned almost 1,000 Americans from entering the country. While some of the names won’t be a surprise to most, some are more on the odd side of things.
The country updated its list of people that are no longer welcome in its country this past weekend, adding the likes of Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg as well as President Biden and Vice President Harris. The Washington Post reports that the names have been added over their response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But some names have been added despite their inability to do that — including Sen. John McCain who died in 2018.
Russia says that the list is a result of “hostile actions taken by Washington” and its work to “incite Russophobia.”
It isn’t just politicians and tech firm CEOs that have found themselves on the list, either. Hollywood star Morgan Freeman found himself namechecked — likely thanks to a documentary he narrated that looked into Russian election interference. Notably, former President Donald Trump does not appear on the list of people Vladimir Putin doesn’t want to see set foot on Russian soil.
As for Zuckerberg, it’s easy to see why he’s been targeted. Facebook initially kicked two pro-Kremlin news outlets off its platform in March, a move which later saw Russia work to ban Meta’s services including WhatsApp and Instagram. Meta, Facebook, and especially Zuckerberg are far from popular in the country right now.
Russia has also, predictably, banned a number of journalists from entering the country for good including ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos and Bret Stephens of The New York Times.