Russia expands travel bans on Australian and New Zealand citizens
Russia announced, 29 October, new sanctions against 131 Australian and nine New Zealand citizens, indefinitely barring them from entering the country in response to what Moscow called a ‘Russophobic campaign of the collective West.’
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s expanded ‘stop list’ targets to include Australian military-industrial figures, journalists and public figures, including several Royal Australian Navy officers, defence industry executives and Australian Broadcasting Corporation (‘ABC’) journalists. Among those banned are Ken Anderson and Mark Donaldson, board members of NIOA Group, and Jeremy Fernandez, an ABC television presenter.
The list spans multiple sectors, from academic figures like Nick Birbilis, Dean of Natural Sciences and Engineering at Deakin University, to regional officials such as Matt Burnett, Mayor of Gladstone Regional Council. Several executives from defence companies, including Electro Optic Systems and SPEE3D, were also targeted.
In a separate statement, Russia sanctioned senior New Zealand defence officials, including Brook Barrington, First Deputy Minister of Defense, and Andrew Brown, commander of naval forces.
Moscow directly linked both measures to sanctions previously imposed by the two Pacific nations. ‘Considering that Canberra does not intend to abandon its anti-Russian course and continues to introduce new sanctions, work on updating the Russian ‘stop list’ will continue,’ the ministry stated in statements in Russian, using nearly identical language in its warning to Wellington.
