Congressional lawmakers banned from Russia | Boston
BOSTON — Members of the state’s congressional delegation are among nearly 1,000 Americans permanently banned from Russia in response to their support of economic sanctions stemming from its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has released an updated list of 963 individuals barred from entering the country, including elected officials, tech executives and celebrities who have been critical of Russia’s three-month-old war.
“Russia does not seek confrontation and is open to honest, mutually respectful dialogue, separating the American people, who are always respected by us, from the U.S. authorities, who incite Russophobia, and those who serve them,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.
Those included on the list of banned politicians include U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Westford, who took to social media over the weekend to celebrate her inclusion.
“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 posted on Twitter. “The United States stands with Ukraine.”
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Malden, who also made the list, posted a statement that the ban “confirms what we’ve known all along — Putin and his Big Oil cronies are lashing out because they can no longer prey on U.S. consumers to fund their fossil fueled conflict.”
Other Massachusetts lawmakers, including Reps. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, Katherine Clark, D-Melrose, and House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Springfield, were also added to Russia’s blacklist.
“It’s a badge of honor to be listed as an enemy of Vladimir Putin after he started this brutal and unprovoked war in Ukraine,” Moulton said Tuesday.
Overall, of the 963 people banned, more than 230 are members of Congress, including both Republican and Democratic leaders.
Interestingly, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Cambridge, is the only member of the state’s all-Democrat congressional delegation who wasn’t included in the list.
Warren, who supported U.S. sanctions against Russia, has been vocally critical of Putin and Russia’s invasion.
Neither was former Republican President Donald Trump, who in the past has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “genius” for declaring portions of Ukraine independent before the invasion.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat, was previously banned from Russia for imposing sanctions. The foreign ministry’s updated blacklist includes Vice President Kamala Harris and other members of the Biden administration.
The list also included several deceased politicians, including former Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada.
It also included tech executives such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft President Brad Smith, as well as Hollywood actors such as Morgan Freeman, who has previously been criticized by Russian officials for appearing in a video accusing them of interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine, which entered its third month this week, prompted the U.S. and European nations to impose a series of aggressive economic sanctions targeting Russia’s financial system.
The Biden administration blocked assets of large Russian banks, imposed export controls aimed at the nation’s high-tech needs, banned Russian oil imports and sanctioned its business oligarchs and politicians with close ties to Putin.
Congress recently approved a $40 billion emergency aid bill to help refugees and provide economic and military aid and equipment to Ukrainian soldiers.
Despite that, and a series of strategic setbacks on the battlefield, the conflict shows no signs of subsiding as Russian troops step up artillery attacks and move to encircle several major Ukrainian cities to consolidate its territorial gains.
Nearly 4,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the conflict, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, while more than 6.5 million Ukrainians — roughly 10% of the nation’s population — have fled the fighting.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@northofboston.com.