Moscow announced entry bans on the leaders of Australia and New Zealand in tit-for-tat measures after Canberra and Wellington imposed sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry accused Australia and New Zealand of “hostile actions” towards Russia.

Those barred from entering Russia included Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as well as many ministers and parliamentarians. In all, 228 people were named on the Australian list and 130 on the New Zealand list.

Moscow condemned Australia for a “reckless Russophobic impulse” and of having “docilely followed” other Western countries.

“In the near future, new announcements will expand the sanctions ‘blacklist’ to include Australian military, business people, experts, and journalists who are helping to incite a negative attitude towards our country,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Wellington’s willingness, forgetting his own interests and general decency, to follow a Russophobic line once again testifies to its foreign policy’s lack of independence and servility” towards the West, said it added.

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