The actor is among nearly 1,000 US citizens no longer allowed to enter the country.
Actor Morgan Freeman is no longer allowed to enter Russia.
The Oscar-winner’s name has appeared on a list published by Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs of 963 American citizens permanently banned from entering the country.
The move is in response to sanctions imposed by the US on Russia following the latter’s invasion of Ukraine.
Also on the “stop list” is US President Joe Biden, US Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as Hilary Clinton and Mark Zuckerberg.
In 2017, Freeman appeared in a clip in which he accused the Kremlin of attacking America’s democracy amid the US elections in 2016.
The clip was made by The Committee to Investigate Russia, a group established by filmmaker Rob Reiner, who has also been included on the stop list.
Alongside Freeman’s name on the list, Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has written: “A well-known film actor who in September 2017 recorded a video message accusing Russia of conspiring against the United States and calling for a fight against our country.”
In a statement, accompanying the stop list, Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry also said:
“We emphasise that the hostile actions taken by Washington, which boomerang against the United States itself, will continue to receive a proper rebuff.
“Russian counter-sanctions are forced and aimed at forcing the ruling American regime, which is trying to impose a neo-colonial “rules-based world order” on the rest of the world, to change its behavior, recognising new geopolitical realities.
“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 US authorities, who incite Russophobia, and those who serve them.
“It is these people who are included in the Russian ‘black list’.”
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