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Ohio congressional delegation, other state leaders banned from traveling to Russia

 A crowd of protestors show support for Ukraine in a demonstration at the Ohio Statehouse on February 26, 2022, two days after Russia invaded that country.
Karen Kasler
/
Statehouse News Bureau
A crowd of protestors show support for Ukraine in a demonstration at the Ohio Statehouse on February 26, 2022, two days after Russia invaded that country.

A list of nearly a thousand Americans and Canadians banned from traveling to Russia includes all 16 Ohio members of Congress and both the state’s U.S. Senators, along with three others.

The Russian government says all 12 Republican and four Democratic members of the U.S. House from Ohio are not welcome, including U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democrat running for Ohio’s open U.S. Senate seat.

“Banned from Russia — there goes the Siberian holiday with the family, I guess," Ryan said with a chuckle.

He and others on the banned list say they’re wearing that as a badge of honor.

Also on the list is Andy Futey, vice president of the World Ukrainian Congress and a former aide to the late George Voinovich, former governor and U.S. Senator. Futey now lives in the Cleveland area.

Republican U.S. Senate nominee J.D. Vance is not on the list. None of Ohio's current statewide officials are on the list, although they have also been criticalof Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

As far as former officials go, none of the former U.S. presidents are on the travel ban list. However, former Gov. John Kasich is on the list.

Kasich said, in a tweet, "Russia's foreign ministry released a list of Americans who are banned from entering the country and it’s a badge of honor to be among such good company on this list. I guess they're a little sensitive about people calling out Putin's murderous regime and unjust war in #Ukraine."

The full list of people banned from traveling to Russia:

  • U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
  • U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
  • Former Gov. John Kasich
  • Former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner
  • Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus)
  • Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo)
  • Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Cleveland)
  • Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Howland)
  • Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Urbana)
  • Rep. Mike Carey (R-Columbus)
  • Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Zanesville)
  • Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Marietta
  • Rep. Mike Turner (R-Dayton
  • Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Cincinnati)
  • Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Cincinnati)
  • Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Bainbridge)
  • Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Rocky River)
  • Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Lakeville)
  • Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Troy)
  • Rep. Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green)
  • Andy Futey

Copyright 2022 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.