MOSCOW, March 14, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Russia's foreign ministry on Thursday said it would bar entry to over 200 US nationals it claims are involved in "anti-Russian activity".

The announcement came a day before the start of Russian presidential elections that are all but guaranteed to hand Vladimir Putin another six-year term in the Kremlin.

"Entry to the Russian Federation is closed to 227 Americans involved in the development, implementation and justification of the Russophobic course of the current US administration," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement published on its website.

The new sanctions targeted some government officials, including US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Several journalists -- including from the Washington Post and the New York Times, as well as the founder of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project -- were also named on the list.

As were many university professors, including some teaching at Harvard, Yale and Columbia.

Moscow has banned more than 2,000 Americans from entering Russia in what it says is a response to a barrage of US sanctions against Russian individuals and companies.

The West has hit Russia with an unprecedented package of sanctions in response to its full-scale military offensive in Ukraine.

Russia's foreign ministry has also warned against any "attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation" during this weekend's election, in which Putin faces no genuine opposition.