Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Responded to U.S. "Magnitsky List" in a Similar Way

In response to the so-called U.S. “Magnitsky list,” Russia approved a list of Washington senior officials whose entry into Russia was recognized as undesirable, Alexander Lukashevich, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation spokesman, declared on Saturday.

“Of course we didn’t leave unanswered the political provocation organized against our country. On the basis of the principle of mutuality, the list of U.S. citizens whose residence in the Russian Federation is undesirable was approved. Washington senior officials involved in crimes in the humanitarian sphere are on this list,” Lukashevich’s statement, disseminated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, says.

If Washington took the visa confrontation track, he said that Moscow would continue to expand the sanctions list of U.S. citizens responsible for illegal acts against Russian citizens. “We also know the names of those who are responsible for the illegal actions against Russian citizens in the United States, who sanctioned and personally participated in the kidnapping and abuse of them. Naturally these people are banned from entering Russia. We didn’t make it final — if the U.S. takes the visa confrontation track, we will have to expand this list,” noted the Russian diplomat.

At the same time, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation brought into focus that Russia still intended to cooperate with the United States. “It is not our choice. We are on an honest and mutually respecting dialogue and a strengthening of interaction in all directions, including the visa field. We cannot allow the political games with forbidden lists to cancel out positive dynamics attained in U.S.-Russian relations,” he said.

Sergei Magnitsky, who collaborated with the investment fund Hermitage Capital Management and is accused of participating in the organization’s tax evasion, died in a Moscow prison in November 2009. His death drew a big response, particularly in the West. U.S. senator Benjamin Cardin made the so-called “Magnitsky list,” which includes the Russian officials who are considered to have participated in this case. In April 2011 a bill calling for the imposition of visa and economic sanctions against persons suspected of being involved in the death of Magnitsky was introduced in the U.S. Congress. This July the U.S. Department of State imposed visa restrictions against dozens of Russian officials, referring to the Magnitsky case.

On October 12, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the United States, Michael Posner, said that the U.S. administration wouldn’t support the blacklist of Russian officials involved in the Magnitsky case proposed by Congress, but that persons who infringe human rights could be refused entry to the U.S.