Russia bans several Lithuanian politicians from entering the country
Moscow has made a so-called "stop list" with names of politicians, deputies and political scientists from Lithuania, the Russian Foreign Ministry reports.
List figurants are prohibited from entering Russia. The Russian Ministry has called its decision to take such a step a response to Vilnius’ adoption of an analogue to the American Magnitsky Act.
The names of officials are not specified in the Russian Ministry’s statement.
"We warn that the Russian ‘stop-list’ remains open. In the case of continuing provocative lines by Vilnius, we may list new people [on the list] at any moment," the Russian Foreign Ministry said on April 28.
On January 15, Lithuania unveiled its first list, which lists 49 Russians who are involved, according to Vilnius authorities, in violations of human rights, corruption, and money laundering.
The list, which is published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Lithuania, includes Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, whose human rights organizations are accused of creating a system of repressive measures and an atmosphere of impunity for security forces.
Also on the Lithuanian "black list" is the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, who is accused of inciting politically motivated cases against opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin and State Duma deputy Andrey Lugovoy. Lugovoy is accused of murdering Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.