The Prime Minister and Scotland's First Minister are among a series of UK officials to be banned from entering Russia in retaliation for supporting Ukraine.

A total of 13 senior UK officials have been banned over Russian sanctions and for "deliberately aggravating the situation around Ukraine", the country's foreign ministry said. 

It follows a similar ban against US President Joe Biden which was put in place in March. 

The majority of the barred politicians are members of the Cabinet, including foreign secretary Liz Truss and defence secretary Ben Wallace.

Russia's foreign ministry’s statement cited “unprecedented hostile actions of the British government, expressed, in particular, in the imposition of sanctions against top officials” in the country.

“The Russophobic course of action of the British authorities, whose main goal is to stir up negative attitude toward our country, curtailing of bilateral ties in almost all areas are detrimental to the well-being and interests of the residents of Britain. Any sanctions attack will inevitably backfire on their initiators and receive a decisive rebuff,” the statement said.

On Friday evening, the ministry announced the expulsion of 18 European Union diplomats from Moscow, in retaliation for the bloc’s declaring 19 diplomats from the Russian mission to the EU and to the European Atomic Energy Community persona non-grata.

The European Union said the expulsions were groundless and that EU diplomats targeted were working in the framework of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations.

A UK Government spokesperson said: “The UK and our international partners stand united in condemning the Russian government’s reprehensible actions in Ukraine and calling for the Kremlin to stop the war. We remain resolute in our support for Ukraine.”

The full list of barred UK individuals:

  • Prime Minister Boris Johnson
  • First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon
  • Foreign Secretary Liz Truss
  • Defence Secretary Ben Wallace
  • Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor, and Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Raab
  • Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps
  • Home Secretary Priti Patel
  • The Chancellor Rishi Sunak
  • Minister of Entrepreneurship, Energy and Industrial Strategy Kwasi Kwarteng
  • Minister of Digitalization, Culture, Media and Sport Nadine Dorries
  • Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey
  • Attorney General for England and Wales and advocate general for Northern Ireland Suella Braverman
  • Conservative MP and former British Prime Minister Theresa May