ASU president, Arizona GOP rep among 500 Americans banned from going to Russia

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- A university president and a political figure from Arizona are among 500 Americans banned from going to Russia, the Foreign Ministry announced last Friday.

Arizona State University President Michael Crow shared he was on the list of people banned from entering the country. Crow tweeted on Tuesday that he will “miss those cards and flowers from Putin.”

Republican State Rep. Eli Crane was also on the list. He has not commented on the ban.

The list was in response to a new round of U.S. sanctions. Although the Foreign Ministry did not say specific complaints against each individual, the ministry said offenses included spreading Russophobia, supplying Ukraine with arms, and officials “who are directly involved in the persecution of dissidents in the wake of the so-called ‘storm of the Capitol.”

Others on the list include former President Barack Obama, comedian Stephen Colbert, CNN journalists, 45 members of the U.S. House, Sens. J.D. Vance, Katie Britt and Eric Schmitt, and former ambassadors to Russia John Tefft and Jon Huntsman.

The ministry said it had also denied a U.S. request for consular access to Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter arrested in late March and charged with espionage. The ministry said that was in response to the United States denying visas to Russian journalists who wanted to cover Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to the United Nations last month.

The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and companies involved in the war effort. The financial penalties have been primarily focused on sanctions evaders connected to technology procurement for the Kremlin.

The Associated Press also contributed to this report.

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