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Russia imposes entrance bans on five U.S. law enforcers — Russian Foreign Ministry

The ban was imposed in retaliation for a decision of the Barack Obama administration expand the Magnitsky list of sanctions against Russian officials

MOSCOW, February 2 /TASS/. Russia has imposed entrance bans on five U.S. law enforcers in retaliation for a decision of the Barack Obama administration expand the Magnitsky list of sanctions against Russian officials, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

The Russian blacklist includes Alberto R. Gonzales, the former U.S. Attorney General; Douglas J. Feith, the former U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; John Rizzo, the former Senior Counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); Jay Scott Bybee, the former U.S. Assistant Attorney General; William James Haynes II, the former Senior Counsel for the U.S. Department of Defense.

"A decision of the Barack Obama administration to expand the notorious Magnitsky list of sanctions that has long been used for groundless accusations against Russian officials, is delivering another blow to the bilateral relations. The United States is methodically destroying their foundation by regularly spreading lies about Russia," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"The tragic fate of the Russian lawyer (Sergey Magnitsky) is nothing more than a small coin in Washington’s dishonest campaign aimed at discrediting Russia," the ministry concluded.