Russia announces ban on entry of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson (L) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C)
Russia on Saturday (April 16) announced a ban on the entry of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson along with some other top British officials.
These include UK Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, former Prime Minister Theresa May, and the First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon.
It comes after London had levied economic sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
In order to punish top Russian officials, and allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin the UK had also frozen their assets along with imposing a travel ban on them.
Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement, "This step was taken as a response to London's unbridled information and political campaign aimed at isolating Russia internationally, creating conditions for restricting our country and strangling the domestic economy."
"The British leadership is deliberately aggravating the situation surrounding Ukraine, pumping the Kyiv regime with lethal weapons and coordinating similar efforts on the behalf of NATO," it added.
Meanwhile, The Times reported that British special forces are training local troops in Kyiv to counter Russian attacks.
They are instructing the Ukrainian troops on how to use British-supplied anti-tank missiles called Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapons (NLAWs).
They have undergone military training in the last two weeks as per Captain Yuriy Myronenko. His battalion is stationed in Obolon on the outskirts of Kyiv.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the mere imposition of sanctions on Russia is not enough.
“In general, the democratic world must accept that Russia’s money for energy resources is in fact money for the destruction of democracy,” he said.
“The sooner the democratic world recognises that the oil embargo against Russia and the complete blockade of its banking sector are necessary steps towards peace, the sooner the war will end,” he added.
(With inputs from agencies)