Two senators scrapped a scheduled trip to Russia after Moscow canceled a visa for fellow Sen. Jeanne Shaheen Cynthia (Jeanne) Jeanne ShaheenCongress must step up to protect Medicare home health care Dems slam EPA plan for fighting drinking water contaminants Bipartisan Senators reintroduce legislation to slap new sanctions on Russia MORE (D-N.H.), according to Politico.

Shaheen planned to depart for Russia on Jan. 11 along with Sens. Ron Johnson Ronald (Ron) Harold JohnsonWhite House pleads with Senate GOP on emergency declaration White House, GOP defend Trump emergency declaration GOP senator says Republicans didn't control Senate when they held majority MORE (R-Wis.) and John Barrasso John Anthony BarrassoOvernight Energy: McConnell plans Green New Deal vote before August recess | EPA official grilled over enforcement numbers | Green group challenges Trump over Utah pipelines McConnell plans vote on Green New Deal before August recess Overnight Energy: Trump ends talks with California on car emissions | Dems face tough vote on Green New Deal | Climate PAC backing Inslee in possible 2020 run MORE (R-Wyo.), all three of whom sit on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to meet with Russian government officials.

Johnson and Barrasso canceled the trip when the Kremlin denied Shaheen's visa without explanation.

ADVERTISEMENT

Shaheen is a tough critic of Russia, and backed a bill earlier this year that levied new sanctions against the country for its meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

Shaheen also supported the State Department's move to force Russian news network RT to register as a foreign agent, following the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that the state-backed outlet could have been a part of Russia's 2016 online propaganda campaign.

She also urged Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Rex Wayne TillersonHeather Nauert withdraws her name from consideration for UN ambassador job Trump administration’s top European diplomat to resign in February Pompeo planning to meet with Pat Roberts amid 2020 Senate speculation MORE in a bipartisan letter this spring to meet with Russian opposition activists during a trip to Moscow in April.

An aide for the senator said she believes the Russian government blocked her travel.

"While she regrets the Kremlin decision to impede dialogue between the Senate and the Russian people, she vows to continue her work to hold the Russian government accountable for its actions that go against international norms and against the Russian people," a spokesman for Shaheen told Politico.

Johnson called Moscow's move to cancel the visa "extremely unfortunate and counterproductive to improving relations between our nations" in a statement to Politico.

All three lawmakers planned to meet with government officials and civic organizations to bolster U.S.-Russian relations.