LONDON, February 21. /TASS/. The Russian embassy to the UK called the sanctions, imposed over Alexey Navalny’s death, legally void, illegitimate, promising not to leave them without response.
"The decision of the British authorities to impose illegitimate unilateral restrictions on February 21 against a number of our citizens under a contrived pretext is amazing in its shamelessness. While appealing to the principle of sovereignty, allegedly not complied with by Russia within the context of the special military operation, at every step, London itself shamelessly interferes in internal affairs of our own country. Even though at this point there have been no investigation results, no concrete facts, London has already found the perpetrators and extrajudicially provided its ‘sanctions verdict’," the embassy said in a statement.
"We view London’s decision as futile and legally void. Like all previous anti-Russian outbursts, it will not be left without response," the Russian embassy promised.
"The choreography for this move by the UK looks distinctly cynical. The timing was chosen with Britain’s domestic policy in mind - just as Rishi Sunak was about to speak in the House of Commons and David Cameron was disembarking in Rio de Janeiro for the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting. Pompously pretending to care for the "welfare" and "freedoms" of ordinary Russians, British politicians seem to forget that they themselves are complicit in instigating the onslaught on Russian civilians by the criminal Kiev regime. They are the ones supplying weapons and missiles from British stockpiles, that are used every day by Ukrainian militants to shell towns of Donbass and the Crimea," the Russian embassy noted.
Earlier, the UK announced restrictive measures against six top Russian prison officials working in the penal colony where Alexey Navalny died. The restrictions were imposed against colony manager Vadim Kalinin and his deputies Sergey Korzhov, Vladimir Pilipchik, Vasiliy Vydrin, Alexander Obraztsov and Alexander Golyakov. The restrictive measures include an entry ban and freezing their assets, should they be discovered.
The British Foreign Office underscored in its statement that the UK is the first state to introduce sanctions against Russia over Navalny’s death. The Foreign Office also called on the Russian authorities to hand over Navalny’s body to his relatives. According to the statement, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron will "condemn the Russian aggression" during the G20 ministerial meeting in Brazil on Wednesday, which will also be attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
On February 16, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service announced that Alexey Navalny died in the penal colony where he was being held. According to the agency, he felt sick after a walk and subsequently lost consciousness. Medical staff immediately tended to the convict; resuscitation efforts lasted for over 30 minutes. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow views Western statements regarding Navalny’s death to be unacceptable, considering that there has been no information about the cause of the incident so far.