MOSCOW, October 3 (Itar-Tass) ——October 3 Following the USA, the United Kingdom has put together a list of Russian officials involved in ‘the Magnitsky case,’ who are not allowed to enter the country. The list contains at least 60 names. No official confirmations or names are available. The UK’s Home Office does not comment on information regarding certain cases or certain names.
The list of officials, for who entrance to the United Kingdom is forbidden, comprises at least 60 names of those, as the UK believes, who have been involved in the case of Hermitage Capital’s lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, the Komsomolskaya Pravda writes. Though the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister David Cameron did raise the topic over his recent visit to Moscow, the British government chose not to aggravate the story. No official confirmations or even names on the list ever followed. The UK’s home office does not comment on information regarding certain cases or certain names. Though, the Guardian claims that the UK’s Minister of Immigration Damian Green confirmed to former foreign minister Chris Brian existence of a ban for issuing visas for several individuals.
Meanwhile, the newspaper reports, on September 26 Russia’s Investigative Committee said they had practically finalised the case about the death in the pre-trail prison of Hermitage Capital’s lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. Following the death of Sergei Magnitsky in the Matrosskaya Tishina prison, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on infliction of death through inattentiveness caused by improper fulfilment of professional duties against former doctor, who treated Magnitsky, Larisa Litvinova. The criminal prosecution also referred to former deputy head of the Butyrka pre-trial prison on medical aid Dmitry Kratov, who is accuses of negligence.
The Nezavisimaya Gazeta addressed for commentary member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, reporter Konstantin Eggert. He said: “If the ban does exist, then in the political sphere the Russian-British relations are most likely to go back to the level, which existed soon after the death of Alexander Litvinenko in London. The fact that the list is not published yet is unlikely to ease Moscow’s position.”
“If the UK’s Home Office has really introduced the sanctions, it may be taken as preventive measure,” the Vedomosti quote Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Politics magazine Fedor Lukyanov as saying. “The government has to react to this topic, which the parliamentarians raise.” The September visit of the UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron has not brought major improvement in the relations between the countries, this is why a possible introduction of the sanctions will not affect them, the expert said.