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Russia to observe principle of parity in its response to Magnitsky List

“As for persons included in the restrictive list, we’re not going to compete with Americans,” Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov said
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, April 12 (Itar-Tass) - Russia will not “compete” with the United States over the number persons included in the sanction list, but it responds on an equal basis, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Itar-Tass on Friday.

“As for persons included in the restrictive list, we’re not going to compete with Americans,” Ryabkov said.

“We said many times this was extremely destructive for bilateral relations. We’ve never initiated such steps. We have rather problems in our relations,” he added.

“But as America, including the Administration and the Congress, has decided to follow other way there is nothing but to respond,” the high-ranking diplomat said, adding, “The response should be balanced and checked. We won’t compete with America in the bad sense of the word. We won’t move in front of Americans by the number of persons, who will be included in our list. But we’ll respond on an equal basis.”

The U.S. list is supposed to contain the names of Russian officials for whom Washington will ban the entry to the U.S. territory.

Western media indicate that Washington will likely publish the Magnitsky List at around 18:00 hours GMT.