Hollywood actors Sean Penn and Ben Stiller received sanctions from Russia on Monday as retaliation for their public criticism of Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine.
The actors were listed on a fresh list of 25 US citizens who were forbidden entry by the foreign ministry.
Politicians, trade officials, and business executives are primarily impacted. They cannot enter Russia because of the sanctions.
In public displays of support, Stiller and Penn met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and have been outspoken supporters of Ukraine during the conflict.
In a televised encounter in Kiev in June, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, and Dodgeball actor Ben Stiller told Zelensiy, “You’re my hero.”
Two-time Oscar winner Penn was in Ukraine filming a documentary on February 24 when Russia invaded.
He was compelled to flee on foot and joined the hordes of Ukrainians who were entering Poland during the early stages of the conflict.
Since then, he has been a vocal supporter of Zelensky, and in June, he travelled back to Ukraine to meet with the president.
Zelensky publicly thanked Penn for his support after Penn visited the nearby Ukrainian cities of Bucha and Irpin, where Russian forces are alleged to have committed atrocities against civilians.
Penn made the following statement while in Ukraine:
“A brutal mistake already, with lives lost and hearts broken, and if he doesn’t change course, I think Mr. Putin will have done the worst possible thing for all of humanity.”
President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine have emerged as legendary figures of valour and morality. The spearhead of the democratic embrace of dreams is Ukraine. We will lose our soul as America if we let it fight alone.
Before going to Kyiv in June, Stiller met Ukrainian refugees in Poland as part of his work for the UN Refugee Agency.
On World Refugee Day, he spent time with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Regarding his visit to the nation, he remarked, “I was particularly moved by the tenacity of the people of Ukraine, and of the President.” His extraordinary sense of how he has responded to the crisis and provided his people with leadership and genuine commitment to overcome it.
While in Ukraine, Penn said: “If he doesn’t relent, I think Mr. Putin will have made a most terrible error for all of humanity. Already a painful mistake of lives stolen and hearts damaged.”
In what it describes as a “special military operation” to shield Russian-speaking Ukrainians from discrimination and neutralise a Western security threat, Russia denies targeting civilians. These, according to Kiev and the West, are flimsy pretexts for an aggressive conflict.
The sanctions bar Russian people from conducting business with anyone on the list, freeze any assets they may have in Russia, and prevent them from visiting the country.
Gina Raimondo, the secretary of commerce for the United States, and a number of senators, including Arizona’s Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema, North Dakota’s Kevin Cramer, South Dakota’s Mike Rounds, Florida’s Rick Scott, and Pennsylvania’s Pat Toomey, were also on the list.
President Joe Biden and his family, as well as politicians and business executives, were also targets of Russian penalties in earlier rounds.
Numerous Russians, including businesspeople and political leaders, have been sanctioned by the United States.
In reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the West has placed an unprecedented flurry of financial and individual sanctions on the country.
In retaliation, Moscow has imposed tit-for-tat penalties on those it deems to be anti-Russian in politics, industry, and the arts.
Penn takes great satisfaction in his advocacy and journalism.
After a severe earthquake rocked the country, he had documented his efforts there for the documentary Citizen Penn.
After getting in touch with El Chapo while working on a Rolling Stone piece, he found himself involved in the US investigation into the wanted drug lord in 2016.
The meeting was organised by the Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, who subsequently said she felt taken advantage of by Penn.
After he had escaped from jail in 2015, she convinced El Chapo to meet with Penn.
Penn then interrupted her during the covert meeting to request permission to speak with Guzman for a Rolling Stone interview.
Del Castillo reported to Gloria, Lili, and Emily Estefan that “all of a sudden, Sean starts saying, “Tell him that I want to interview him for Rolling Stone magazine.” “Wait, this was not in the script, I simply thought. I can’t make a face because [Guzman] will realise there’s a problem.
She subsequently told The Los Angeles Times that “he’s going to take it up and [Penn] is going to be dead in just a blink of my eye.”
There was conjecture that the two’s pursuit of El Chapo, whose actual name is Joaquin Guzman, resulted in the guy being located and apprehended once again by US police.