In response for UK restrictions on its citizens, Russia has barred 54 British nationals and persons working for UK organizations from entering the country, according to the country’s foreign ministry.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer and International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan are among them.

There are also journalists from the BBC, the Daily Telegraph, and the Guardian on the list.

The BBC has said that it would “continue to report independently and fairly.”

The Russian foreign ministry stated that the action was in response to London’s “aggressive implementation of a hostile anti-Russian course.”

Ms Frazer was sanctioned for “actively lobbying for the international sports isolation of Russia”, while Minister of State for Defense Annabel Goldie was described as being “responsible for the supply of weapons to Ukraine”.

In March the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting children from Ukraine, which Moscow denies.

Mr Khan told the BBC at the time: “Children can’t be treated as the spoils of war, they can’t be deported.”

The BBC journalists include chief executive Deborah Turness, presenter and analysis editor Ros Atkins and disinformation and social media correspondent Marianna Spring.

The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that its “stop list” will be expanded further.

Russia has previously prohibited a number of British journalists, defense leaders, and hundreds of elected British MPs from entering the country.

Clive Myrie and Orla Guerin of the BBC were among the journalists who were barred from reporting from Ukraine in June of last year. Tim Davie, the director general of the BBC, was also named.

The United Kingdom is one of the Western countries that has sanctioned Russia in reaction to its full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.