Russia Sanctions Five British Journalists and Experts

MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. Russia, in response to the anti-Russian rhetoric of British officials, imposed retaliatory sanctions against five British reporters and experts, the Foreign Ministry said.

According to the ministry, the provocative anti-Russian rhetoric of British officials, which spread misinformation about Russia, as well as London's practical steps to pump up the Kiev regime with weapons and military equipment indicate the unrelenting attitude of the leadership of the United Kingdom to continue a tough systemic confrontation with Russia.

"In response to these hostile actions, it was decided to expand the Russian stop list with several representatives of the British journalistic and expert community involved in the dissemination of slanderous speculation and false information about the policy of the Russian leadership and socio-political events in our country, as well as calling for maintaining and increasing pressure on Moscow under the pretext of responding to the special military operation. In addition, the list includes the heads of security-related British companies involved in recruiting personnel for the neo-Nazi regime under the pretext of implementing pseudo-humanitarian projects in Ukraine," the Foreign Ministry said.

The sanctioned Britons are Alexander Browder, who wrote a disinformation report for the Henry Jackson Society, Catherine Belton, a Washington Post reporter, Alice Mary Laugher, managing director of the Committed to Good company, a Chelsea Group subsidiary, Richard Nicholas Westbury, a founder and board chairman of Chelsea Group, and Richard Holmes, a reporter of Britain’s edition I.

"We again call on London to abandon aggressive anti-Russian steps, as well as support for the [Vladimir] Zelensky regime, which only leads to new civilian casualties and the destruction of Ukrainian statehood. We warn you that any efforts by the British political elites to further incite Russophobia, deliberately damage our country's international reputation and unleash the anti-Russian sanctions flywheel will inevitably receive a decisive rebuff. Work on expanding the Russian stop list in response to the unfriendly actions of the British authorities will continue," it said in a statement.