Russia bars entry to Joe Biden and Canada's Trudeau

LONDON: Russia said on Tuesday it had put US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a dozen top US officials on a “stop list” that bars them from entering the country.

Alongside Biden, US officials on the list included Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA chief William Burns, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and former secretary of state and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The ban was in response to sanctions imposed by Washington on Russian officials. The foreign ministry later added Trudeau to the list of sanctioned individuals.

The measures appeared to be mainly symbolic, as the Foreign Ministry said it was maintaining official relations and if necessary would make sure that high-level contacts with the people on the list could take place.

Three European prime ministers headed to Ukraine’s Kyiv by train on Tuesday for the first visit of its kind since war began, even as buildings there were ablaze and rescue workers were trying to pull survivors from the rubble of fresh bombardment by Rusia.

Those foreign leaders could attempt to visit the Ukrainian capital was a striking symbol of Ukraine’s success so far in fending off an assault that Western countries believe was aimed at seizing Kyiv weeks ago.