Russia, in retaliation for economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed over the country’s attack on Ukraine, announced that it has added 61 Americans to its own blacklist — including Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings.
Hastings and the other U.S. nationals on Russia’s blacklist are “banned indefinitely from entering the Russian Federation,” according to a notice published Monday by Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (Netflix didn’t respond to a request for comment.)
Also on Russia’s blacklist is Universal Pictures president Peter Cramer; top execs from United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, S&P Global, investment firm BlackRock and the entire board of Raytheon Technologies; and multiple White House and U.S. State Department officials. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it was blacklisting the U.S. business and government figures “in response to a constantly expanding list of sanctions imposed on Russian politicians and public figures, as well as representatives of Russian business.”
In February, just days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Netflix said it would not carry the 20 Russian free-to-air propaganda channels, which the streamer may have been required to host under Russian law. In early March, Netflix announced that it would pause all future projects and acquisitions from Russia — and then shut down its service entirely.
With the Russia shutdown, according to Netflix, it lost 700,000 subscribers in the country — contributing to its net loss of 200,000 customers in the first quarter of 2022. The company has projected a loss of 2 million subscribers for the June quarter.
Netflix had launched its streaming service in Russia in 2016, operating through a service provider agreement with Russia’s National Media Group.