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Washington in fact rates persons on 'Kremlin list' as US enemies — Putin's spokesman

The "Kremlin List" consists of 210 names, which include Foreign Minister Lavrov and Prime Minister Medvedev

MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Washington has in fact rated all persons mentioned on the so-called "Kremlin list" as enemies of the United States, the Kremlin believes.

"In fact all [persons on the US Department of the Treasury’s "Kremlin list"] are described as US enemies," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Tuesday. "If you read this document and its title, [you will see] that all this is being done in accordance with the act on ‘countering America’s adversaries’."

"De facto, the whole group of persons [mentioned on the list] is described as enemies of the United States," Peskov said. "This is an approach, a statement."

He believes that the published document will have to be scrutinized in order to avoid a "superficial and unprofessional approach."

"A great deal of work is to be handled in order to understand some motivation and the reasons why [certain persons] were included or not included in the list. For now there are more questions than there are answers," Peskov said.

He recalled that the US administration had stated there was no need for now to expand personal sanctions against Russians.

"We did hear a statement to the effect that they [new personal sanctions] will be possible in the future, if need be," he said.

The US Department of the Treasury on Monday published the open version of the so-called "Kremlin List", which includes all members of the Russian government, including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the members of the presidential staff, the CEOs of a number of public corporations and banks and also businessmen whose wealth, according to US sources, is estimated at $1 billion and more.

There are 210 names on the list. It consists of several sections - the presidential staff, the Cabinet of Ministers, political leaders and oligarchs. Also, there is a secret addendum with additional information. Those on the secret list, the Department of the Treasury said, may be of lower rank or possess assets estimated under $1 billion.

This is not a sanction list, the Department of the Treasury said, and no restrictions against the persons on it are applied automatically.