Russia has banned 16 Cabinet ministers, including Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves, from entering the country.

Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, and Ed Miliband, the Climate Secretary, are also on the Kremlin’s “stop list” – which was published on Tuesday – alongside the Deputy Prime Minister and the Chancellor.

The politicians, along with business leaders and journalists, were condemned by the Kremlin over “reckless policies” and “anti-Russian activities”.

“These actions only serve to prolong the Ukrainian conflict,” a Russian foreign ministry spokesman said after announcing the latest sanctions, in an apparent reference to Ukraine’s recent use of British-made Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia.

Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, and David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, were sanctioned by Moscow in 2022, along with leading Conservative figures who were then in government.

Britain ‘bordering on direct involvement in war’

“The Russian foreign ministry is once again forced to draw attention to the incessant aggressive anti-Russian rhetoric of the British authorities,” a Russian foreign ministry statement read.

“Russophobic policies, which combine attempts to discredit Russia’s actions and isolate it in the international arena, the dissemination of disinformation about our country, including in the context of a special military operation, coupled with military support for the Ukrainian armed forces, bordering on the direct involvement of Great Britain in the conflict with all the accompanying escalation risks, indicate London’s attitude towards further systemic confrontation with respect to Russia.”

The decision to ban 30 more British citizens from entering Russia comes after a UK diplomat was kicked out of Russia after being accused of “spying”.