Americans banned from Russia

Russia imposed personal sanctions Monday on 25 Americans, including actors Sean Penn and Ben Stiller, in response to U.S. sanctions against Russians stemming from the conflict in Ukraine.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was on the new sanctions list, as were several American senators: Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Rick Scott of Florida, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod has also been sanctioned.

The statement gave no added details about why or how the sanctioned Americans were chosen.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said the group, which also included business leaders, academics and government officials, would be banned permanently from entering Russia.

Previous rounds of Russian sanctions against Americans have included President Joe Biden and members of his family, as well as various lawmakers and business leaders.

The Vice President Kamala Harris is also among those included.

In May renowned actor Morgan Freeman and the late Senator John McCain were added to the list of nearly 1,000 Americans who Russian officials said are 'permanently banned' from entering the country.

Freeman, 84, is apparently included in the list for appearing in a 2017 video clip accusing the Russian government of interfering in the 2016 presidential election, saying: 'We have been attacked, we are at war.'

The video was directed by Rob Reiner - who has also been added to the Kremlin's black list - and was produced for an organization named the Committee to Investigate Russia.

The reason McCain is named on the list, though, remains unclear as he died in 2018 at the age of 81 - which the Russian state-media acknowledged at the time.

But he is only one of three deceased senators to appear on the list, which also includes Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada who died in December at the age of 82, and Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah who in April at the age of 88.

House Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia; Matt Gaetz, of Florida, and Paul Gosar of Arizona were added to the banned list in May, as well as House Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York; Ilhan Omar, of Minnesota, and Ayanna Pressley, of Massachusetts.

In the Senate, Republicans Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina; Ted Cruz, of Texas; and Marco Rubio, of Florida, were banned. And on the Democrats' side, Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota; Mark Werner, of Virginia; and Dianne Feinstein, of California; were also on the list.

Also included on the list were American journalists like Susan Glasser, of the New Yorker; and Bret Stephens, of the New York Times.

And even some rabbis, an LGBTQ activist, an attorney in Iowa, executives at defense contractors and a history professor at Yale, were on the list.

Donna Brazile, a former Democratic National Committee chair, wondered why she was included on the list, but noted: 'Oh well, I support democratic governments over authoritarian-led dictators.'

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, meanwhile, wrote that it is a 'badge of honor' to be on the list, and Rep. Lori Trahan, a Democrat from Massachusetts, emphasized that Russia including her on the list would not change her mind about the invasion.

'If Vladimir Putin thinks permanently banning me from Russia is going to change my support for Ukraine, I've got bad news for him. It's not,' she wrote. 'The United States stands with Ukraine.'