Russia Bans Sean Penn, Ben Stiller, U.S. Senators from Entering Country

Omar Marques; Rosalind O'Connor/NBCU via Getty Images
Omar Marques; Rosalind O'Connor/NBCU via Getty Images
Paul Bois

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that actors Sean Penn and Ben Stiller have been banned from entering the country along with six U.S. Senators.

In its announcement, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the banned Americans of “hostile actions” toward the country following its invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

“The hostile actions of the American authorities, which continue to follow a Russophobic course, destroying bilateral ties and escalating confrontation between Russia and the United States, will continue to be resolutely rebuffed,” the announcement.

Stiller and Penn were banned “on a permanent” basis alongside Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Michael Rounds (R-SD), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Pat Toomey (R-PA). As many as 1,073 names have been placed on Russia’s so-called “stop list,” according to Fox News.

Sean Penn has been heavily critical of Russia since the start of its invasion of Ukraine to the point of openly considering taking up arms against Vladimir Putin.

“If you’ve been in Ukraine [fighting] has to cross your mind. And you kind of think what century is this? Because I was at the gas station in Brentwood the other day and I’m now thinking about taking up arms against Russia? What the fuck is going on?” he said in April.

Penn added that his desire to fight against Russia stemmed from his curiosity about the devastations of war.

“If you have seen war, and I’ve seen a little bit of it, there’s a rite of passage while you are in or near it that has to do with some basic questions you ask yourself: how would I react? Could I keep enough oxygen in my brain to make clear judgements? Are you going to be damaged by being in a war, emotionally or psychologically?” he said.

Ben Stiller, on the other hand, visited Ukraine at the height of the conflict and hailed President Volodymyr Zelensky as an “inspiring” leader.

“You’re my hero,” Stiller reportedly told Zelensky during his visit. “What you’ve done, the way that you’ve rallied the country, the world, it’s really inspiring.”

Stiller also lamented the destruction he had seen while visiting the country.

“Yesterday, I was in a house that was almost fully collapsed with a woman, and we were sitting in her kitchen,” he said “And she was giving us strawberries and had this incredible resilience saying: ‘We have to figure out how to go forward’. It’s hard not to think ‘how would I react if my house had half collapsed.’”

Rebekah Koffler, the president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting, a former DIA intelligence officer focused on Russia and Eurasia, told Fox News that Russia’s ban is merely “diplomatic warfare.”

“This is diplomatic warfare with the targets being government officials, business executives and high-profile individuals rather than military installations, and weapons being economic sanctions and travel restrictions rather than bombs and missiles,” said Koffler.

“It is largely symbolic at this point. Russia’s sanctions aren’t really biting that much because few U.S. citizens would want to travel to Russia or do business with Moscow,” she added. “U.S. sanctions on Russia haven’t produced the desired effect either: they haven’t changed Putin’s behavior at all, haven’t stopped Russia’s war on Ukraine, haven’t produced a devastating effect on Russian economy.”

Paul Bois joined Breitbart News in the summer of 2021 after previously working as a writer for TruthRevolt and The Daily Wire. He has written thousands of news articles on a variety of topics, from current events to pop-cultural trends. Follow him on Twitter @Paulbois39

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