Russia Lists U.S. Journalists, Ex-Ukraine Army Spokesperson as ‘Extremists and Terrorists’

Russia’s state financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring has added several U.S. journalists, as well as the former spokesperson for Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces, Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, to its list of “extremists and terrorists.” 

Ashton-Cirillo, a trans woman, responded to Rosfinmonitoring’s designation on X (formerly Twitter) by saying “I know the FSB and Kremlin were thinking about it.”

Being added to Russia's registry of “extremists and terrorists” — which includes al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the Islamic State — allows the authorities to freeze designees' bank accounts, though it is unclear if any of the individuals targeted in the latest listings have Russian bank accounts. 

Overall, Rosfinmonitoring’s new additions include 31 names, among them Washington Examiner editor-in-chief Hugo Gurdon and writer Tom Rogan.

Russian investigators launched a criminal case against Rogan in 2018 after he urged Ukraine to destroy the Moscow-built Crimean Bridge that connects the annexed peninsula to mainland Russia.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army suspended Ashton-Cirillo in September after she said Kyiv would “hunt down” state-funded Russian journalists. 

Ashton-Cirillo initially traveled from the United States to Ukraine in March 2022 to cover Moscow's invasion as a war correspondent. 

In August, she was later appointed as the Territorial Defense Forces’ English-language spokesperson.