Russia has barred entry to 'anti-Russian' British officials in retaliation to human rights and anti-corruption sanctions from London, Moscow announced Monday.
Britain in December banned entry to three Russians accused of torturing LGBT people in Chechnya and later to 14 Russians in April as part of global Magnitsky sanctions.
“We consider London’s unjustified attacks to be a clear demonstration of its leadership’s true intentions regarding the further alignment of its Russian course, namely the desire for destruction on the bilateral track,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.
“The ease with which London ‘designates’ perpetrators and determines their ‘punishment’ can’t be called anything other than an attempt to interfere in another state’s internal affairs and exert pressure on the Russian justice system,” it added.
Without naming names, the Foreign Ministry said it has imposed sanctions against a “proportionate number of British representatives closely involved in anti-Russian activities.”
“They are banned from entering Russian territory,” it said in a statement.
The government agency vowed an “adequate proportional response” to further sanctions and called on Britain to “abandon the groundless confrontational line toward our country.”
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