The i Paper’s security correspondent banned from Russia

The i Paper’s security correspondent is among five British nationals to have been barred from entering Russia.

Richard Holmes, an award-winning journalist, was on a list published by Russia’s foreign ministry in response to what it called “the provocative anti-Russia rhetoric of British officials, the spread of insinuations about Russia and London’s practical steps to pump the Kyiv regime with weapons and military equipment”.

Other ‌Britons ⁠included in the ban are Washington Post journalist Catherine Belton; Alexander Browder, author of a report on cryptocurrency laundering for the Henry Jackson Society; Alice Laugher, chief executive of ​humanitarian company Committed to ​Good and ⁠Richard Westbury, chairman of the Chelsea Group, the parent company of Committed to ​Good.

They join dozens of British journalists, media representatives and politicians who have been sanctioned by Russia. The UK and its allies have imposed sanctions on Russia since at least 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea, and increased them after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia has in turn imposed sanctions on British individuals and companies.

Moscow has previously accused the British media of “spreading false information about Russia” and supporting a “neo-Nazi regime” in Ukraine.

Holmes’s work for The i Paper has revealed how Russian spies may be targeting British and European daily life and sensitive infrastructure.

He has revealed how Russian spies were able to slip into the UK aboard commercial cargo ships before visiting areas close to military bases and critical infrastructure; how a suspected spy network was monitoring Nato staff staying at a western German hotel and how counter-terrorism officers were alerted to a suspected spy staying in a Dorset shepherd’s hut and spotted flying a drone near Lulworth firing range.

Holmes has also reported on the “shadow fleet” of Russian tankers that have brazenly entered UK waters despite sanctions, and pledges from Sir Keir Starmer that they would be seized.

The i Paper has carried out a range of investigations into the wider impact actions of Russia’s aggression.

In 2025, Investigations Correspondent Sanya Burgess revealed how the unit helping to rescue Ukrainian children stolen by Russia had been axed as part of Elon Musk’s slashing of US government spending.

The revelations prompted a rare U-turn by the Trump administration to restore temporary funding for the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab.

In the early months of Moscow’s invasion, The i Paper also reported extensively on the use of “filtration” camps to detain, torture and disperse Ukrainians across Russia.

In May 2022, the paper revealed how Russia’s siege of Mariupol had killed more than 20,000 people and the city’s leaders feared a deadly epidemic due to poisoning of the water supply by decomposing bodies.

The i Paper‘s range of expert commentators have also helped to make sense of events.

This includes Dr Mark Galeotti, one of Britain’s foremost experts on Russia, who has a deep understanding of why scrutiny of Putin in the UK is more crucial than ever.

The award-winning columnist Patrick Cockburn, a former Moscow correspondent, has helped to untangle complex geopolitics and the threat Russia poses to the West, alongside common misunderstandings about the Kremlin.

Russia has launched an unprecedented crackdown on independent media in the past four years, making it more difficult for those in the region to find out about what is happening.

In its statement, Russia’s Foreign Ministry hit out at what it called “efforts by the British political elites to further incite Russophobia” and “deliberately damage our country’s international reputation”.

The ministry added that work on expanding a list of those barred from Russia “in response to the unfriendly actions of the British authorities will continue”.

Earlier this year, the UK government announced what it said was its biggest package of sanctions against Russia to date, which would cut off critical oil revenue.

The UK has currently sanctioned over 3,000 individuals, businesses and ships believed to be propping up the Russian regime.

International sanctions have deprived President Putin of over $450 billion to date, the government claims.