Russia bans almost 1,000 Americans to force Washington to ‘change its behaviour’

Russia has banned almost 1,000 Americans from entering the country in response to the country’s support of Ukraine.

The Russian foreign ministry said the move to ban 963 additional US citizens, was a necessary response to “hostile actions taken by Washington” following the invasion of Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State, Antony Blinken and CIA chief, William Burns had all been previously included in previous bans by the Kremlin.

The Kremlin said it aims to “force 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 behaviour”.

It comes after Mr Biden signed a bill to provide $40billion (£32bn) in aid for Ukraine to boost military supplies.

The new legislation will provide $20billion (£16billion) in military assistance, ensuring a steady stream of advanced weapons that have been used to blunt Russia’s advances.

There’s also $8billion (£6.4billion) in general economic support, $5billion (£4billion) to address global food shortages that could result from the collapse of Ukrainian agriculture and more than $1billion (£800million) to help refugees.

Separately, the Kremlin said it had added 26 new names to a list of barred Canadians, including defence chiefs and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, the wife of already-banned PM Justin Trudeau.

Four days ago, Ottawa introduced a bill that will ban Russian president Vladimir Putin and about 1,000 members of his government and military from entering Canada.