Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed support for a draft law to impose sanctions on foreign officials whom Moscow accuses of violating the rights of Russian nationals abroad.
"We consider this as an absolutely just move because our deputies’ counterparts on Capitol Hill are trying to exceed the limits of decency, and this represents interference in our internal affairs," Lavrov told reporters on Thursday.
A bill denying entry to Russia to foreign officials who have violated the rights of Russian citizens outside of Russia has been submitted to the State Duma, Igor Lebedev, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party faction in the State Duma, told Interfax on Tuesday.
"It’s our appropriate response to the actions taken by the West, including the U.S. Department of State, which makes ‘blacklists’ of Russian citizens, including judges and law enforcement officials," the parliamentarian said.
The parliamentarian pointed out that the bill has been signed by representatives of all four parties represented in the State Duma.
These amendments were prepared with regard for the Magnitsky case, over which the Western authorities have made lists of Russian investigators, court officials, and authorities they believe are involved in the case (the people on those lists are denied entry in Western countries).
"If the rights of Russian citizens are so openly violated, we may deny entry to a foreign citizen who inflicted property damage or moral damage to a Russian citizen abroad," Lebedev said
The accounts of such foreign citizens in Russia and in Branches of Russian banks abroad can be seized under this bill.
Konstantin Kosachyov, the head of the State Duma international affairs committee, earlier told Interfax he believes the Russian legislation can be changed by introducing sanctions on public officials violating the rights of Russian citizens in their countries.
"I believe it is expedient to consider the proposal to change the national legislation to give State Duma deputies, members of the Federation Council, the Russian ombudsman, and members of the Public Chamber to ask the executive authorities to take measures against foreign public officials, specifically, American officials, who are involved in violations of the rights of [Russian] citizens in their respective countries," Kosachyov said in the State Duma on Tuesday.
Maxim Mishchenko, a member of the State Duma committee on youth affairs (United Russia faction), said he intends to submit to the State Duma a bill envisioning sanctions on foreign public officials violating the rights of Viktor Bout, Konstantin Yaroshchenko, Yegor Chernov, and other Russian citizens who are now under arrest in the U.S.
"The range of such sanctions is subject to discussion, but I believe the least sanction that can be envisioned by our legislation for such people is denial of entry into the Russian Federation, freezing of their investment and financial assets, and property deals," Kosachyov said.
