Russia bans entry to five UK nationals including Washington Post journalist

June 3 (Reuters) - Russia has banned ​five ⁠British nationals, including The Washington ​Post journalist Catherine Belton and The i Paper correspondent Richard ​Holmes, ‌from entering the country, the foreign ministry said on ⁠its website late on Tuesday. Belton is ⁠an investigative correspondent focusing ​on Russia and previously reported about the country for the Financial Times and Reuters among other media.

Holmes, an ​award-winning ‌investigative journalist and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, is a security correspondent at Britain's The i Paper.

The foreign ministry said the entry ban was an ​answer to the "provocative anti-Russian rhetoric of British officials, ‌the spread of insinuations about Russia, and London's practical steps to supply the Kyiv ‌regime with weapons".

Other Britons named under the ban were Alexander Browder, a contributor for the Henry Jackson ​Society policy think tank; Alice Laugher, chief executive of humanitarian ‌staffing firm Committed to Good; and Richard Westbury, chairman of the Chelsea Group, parent company of Committed to ⁠Good.

The UK ⁠is among countries which imposed ‌sanctions on Russia, including travel bans, after Moscow's annexation of Crimea from ​Ukraine ​in 2014. Those measures expanded following Russia's ‌full-scale invasion in 2022. Moscow has also imposed sanctions, including travel bans, in retaliation. (Reporting by Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)