MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. Moscow is forced to prohibit hostile-minded Lithuanian citizens from entering Russia and warns Vilnius that the entry stop list remains open, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website.
"In retaliation for Vilnius’s adoption of an equivalent of the United States’ Magnitsky Act we were forced to impose a ban on trips to Russia for most hostile-minded Lithuanian citizens, including local politicians, legislators and political scientists," the Foreign Ministry said. "We are warning that Russia’s stop-list will remain open, and if Vilnius goes ahead with its provocative policies, more persons may be included in it."
"It is common knowledge it is against Russia’s rules to leave partners’ provocative actions unretaliated," the Foreign Ministry said.
Lithuania’s clone of the United States’ Magintsky Act was adopted by parliament on November 16, 2017. It complemented the Lithuanian law on the status of foreigners with an article establishing a five-year entry ban on those persons who, in Vilnius’s eyes, have committed grave or very grave crimes against the person in other countries, thus violating the universally recognized rights and freedoms, as well as on those responsible for corruption or criminal money laundering. The Lithuanian parliament put 44 names on the list.