Regard it as an honour... now Russia bans 287 MPs

ALMOST 300 MPs were sanctioned by Russia yesterday – which Boris Johnson described as a ‘badge of honour’.

Russia’s foreign ministry announced that 287 British politicians were being banned from travelling to the country because of their ‘active part’ in pushing through sanctions against Moscow.

It also blamed them for the ‘groundless whipping up of Russophobic hysteria in the UK’.

In a sign that the Kremlin’s muchvaunted intelligence network is no longer what it was, the list included a string of former MPs who left the Commons at the 2019 election, such as Sir Oliver Letwin, Justine Greening and the PM’s brother Jo Johnson.

Disgraced former Tory MP Charlie Elphicke, who was thrown out of the party and jailed after being found guilty of three counts of sexual assault, was also included.

The Prime Minister, who has already been banned from Russia, told MPs: ‘It’s I think no disrespect to those who haven’t been sanctioned when I say that all those 287 should regard it as a badge of honour.

‘And what we will do is keep up our robust and principled support for the Ukrainian people and their right to protect their lives, their families, and to defend themselves.’

Ex-minister Andrew Murrison said he had framed his letter of notification from the Kremlin.