Russia warns US against publicising Magnitsky list

Russia has warned the US against publishing a list of Russian officials banned from entering America because of alleged human rights abuses, a move it says could severely damage relations.

A spokesman for President Vladimir Putin said publication of the names would have a very negative impact.




The US imposed the sanctions after Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitski died in jail in 2009 in disputed circumstances.

He was arrested after accusing officials of embezzling cash.

The Magnitsky Act passed by Washington in 2012 blacklists Russian officials accused of involvement in his death. The names - which have up to now been kept secret - are due to be made public on Friday.

In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a Russian law barring Americans from adopting Russian orphans.

More recently the Russian foreign ministry has drawn up its own blacklist of US officials who are alleged to have committed human rights violations.

Sources say that the counter-measures will be "symmetrical" and should be in place by Saturday.Accounts frozen

"The appearance of any lists will doubtless have a very negative effect on bilateral Russian-American relations," President Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The row over Mr Magnitsky threatens to cast a shadow over US-Russia relations

The list is believed to include people involved in Mr Magnitsky's trial and prosecution as well as officials deemed to have participated in recent Kremlin moves to restrict Russians' political rights.

Those affected by the American measures have had their US accounts frozen and have been added to a list of people who will be denied US entry visas. Some European nations are taking similar measures.

Mr Peskov said that despite Russia's unhappiness over the measures, co-operation between the two sides would continue, because there were "still numerous prospects for further development".

Mr Magnitsky had accused officials of stealing $230m (£150m) from the state through fraudulent tax rebates. His family and rights groups say he was badly beaten and denied medical treatment in custody.

Correspondents say that the argument threatens to cast a shadow over a visit to Russia by President Obama's National Security adviser Tom Donilon, who is to hold high-level talks in Moscow on Monday.

The posthumous trial of Mr Magnitsky - who died aged 37 in pre-trial detention after developing pancreatitis - opened in Moscow in March but was adjourned shortly afterwards.

Legal experts say they are unaware of any precedents for the trial of a dead man in Russian history.