Russia bars US lawmakers previously left off sanctions list from entering country

by Chloe Folmar - 05/21/22 6:58 PM ET

FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a meeting of the leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 16, 2022. Finnish state-owned energy company Gasum is saying that natural gas imports from Russia under its supply contract will be halted on Saturday, May 21 after the Finns had refused to pay in Russian rubles, a demand made by President Vladimir Putin after sanctions were levied against his nation over the invasion of Ukraine. (Alexander Nemenov/Pool Photo via AP, file)

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs released an updated list of nearly 1,000 Americans permanently barred from traveling to the country Saturday, including the members of the U.S. House who were left off a previous Russian sanctions list.

In early April, Russia sanctioned every member of the House excluding 39, all of whom have now been sanctioned according to Saturday’s list.

Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) are among those who were left off the earlier list but included on the new one.

The ministry did not indicate a reason why the representatives were excluded from the previous list.

Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), who had been left off of the first sanctions list, was specially cited on Saturday’s as being “one of the initiators of the announcement of the Russian TV channel RT and the agency Sputnik in the United States as foreign agents.”

Russia placed retaliatory sanctions on 398 members of Congress on April 13, weeks after the U.S. sanctioned hundreds of Russian lawmakers.

“These individuals, including the leadership and committee chairmen of the lower house of the U.S. Congress, are placed on the Russian ‘stop list’ on a permanent basis,” said the Russian Foreign Ministry at the time.

The list of sanctioned Americans also includes President Biden, Vice President Harris and other members of the Biden administration as well as an assortment of former lawmakers and officials, business executive, think tank leaders and others, including dozens identified on the list only by their name and the designation “US citizen.”