Russia ‘blacklists’ U.S. actors and producers Sean Penn and Ben Stiller

Latest news on the war pitting Russia and Ukraine.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Monday has once again expanded its ‘blacklist’ and included 25 Americans, including actors, directors and producers Sean Penn and Ben Stiller, who have shown their support for Ukraine in the context of the war.

Stiller visited Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, in late June and even held a meeting with the country’s president, Volodimir Zelenski. Penn, for his part, traveled to the European country in mid-March with the intention of filming a documentary on the conflict.

Joining Stiller and Penn are several U.S. political figures, including Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and some of her advisors, several Republican and Democratic senators and NGO directors, according to a statement released by the Russian diplomatic portfolio.

Moscow has argued that this decision, comes as a “response to the increasing personal sanctions by Joe Biden’s Administration against Russian citizens.” Russia has already sanctioned a total of 1,073 U.S. citizens.

“The hostile actions of the U.S. authorities, which continue to pursue a Russophobic course, destroying bilateral ties and escalating the confrontation between Russia and the United States, will continue to be rejected,” the Russian Foreign Ministry has zanelled.