MOSCOW, August 9. /TASS/. Russia is imposing personal sanctions against British nationals involved in anti-Russian activities and denies entry to its territory for them, Nikolai Lakhonin, deputy director of the Russian foreign ministry’s information and press department, said on Monday.

"In response to the unfriendly actions of the British authorities and on the basis of the principle of reciprocity, the Russian side has taken a decision to impose personal sanctions against the proportional number of British nationals who are actively involved in anti-Russian activities. They are denied entry to the Russian Federation," he said.

Moscow calls on the British authorities "to drop the absolutely ungrounded confrontational policy." "An adequate and proportional response will follow any unfriendly steps," he stressed.

"London’s ungrounded steps are a vivid example of its true plans concerning its policy on the Russian track, in particular, its course towards destructive activities in bilateral relations," Lakhonin said. "We state that after the exit from the European Union, Great Britain has invigorated the use of sanction instruments, including in order to demonstrate its leadership in the Russia demonizing campaign."

"The easiness London ventures to ‘appoint’ those responsible and inflict "punishment" with cannot be call other than an attempt to interfere into domestic affairs of a foreign state and exert pressure on the Russian judicial system," he said.

On December 10, 2020, the United Kingdom imposed personal sanctions against three Russian politicians over alleged attempts at infringing upon the rights of the LGBT community in the Chechen Republic. Furthermore, on April 26, fourteen Russian nationals fell under new British international anti-corruption sanctions over the Sergei Magnitsky’s lawyer case.