Russia draws up blacklist of US government officials banned from country

The Telegraph. By Andrew Osborn, Moscow

Russia’s foreign ministry has begun drawing up a blacklist of US government officials who will not be allowed into the country after Washington slapped a travel ban on dozens of Russian officials.

In a spiralling tit-for-tat dispute that seems likely to harm improving relations between the two countries, a spokeswoman for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the Kremlin was “bewildered” by Washington’s decision to blacklist up to sixty Russian officials accused of involvement in the suspicious death of a Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, in 2009.

“We found the State Department’s position bewildering,” said the spokeswoman, Natalya Timakova. “It did not wait for the investigation (into the lawyer’s death) to be completed or the decision of a Russian court. Even in the most difficult years of the Cold war such measures were not taken.” The Kremlin would respond in kind, she confirmed.

Earlier this week, the US State Department revealed it had banned an unspecified number of Russian officials from the United States in connection with Mr Magnitsky’s death. The lawyer, who was working for UK-based investment fund Hermitage at the time, died in a squalid Moscow jail after being withheld essential medical treatment.

Rights activists believe that he was badly beaten by prison guards too. Before his death, he had uncovered the biggest tax fraud in Russian history. But instead of being lauded, he was accused of being party to corporate tax evasion and held in pretrial detention for almost a year.

The late man’s friends and colleagues have accused a number of policemen, investigators and prison officials of masterminding his death in order to silence him and his case has become emblematic of official Russian corruption. The United States is one of several countries that have repeatedly asked the Kremlin to ensure that justice prevails. hairy girl payday loan https://zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php buy over the counter medicines