MOSCOW — The speaker of Russia's lower house says it will quickly retaliate against trade and human rights legislation approved by the U.S. Senate that imposes sanctions on Russian officials accused of rights violations.
Sergei Naryshkin said Monday the house this week will consider measures against U.S. officials “rudely violating human rights.”
Russia
moved last week to require all shipments of U.S. beef and pork to be
tested free of an animal feed additive called ractopamine. The measure
effectively amounts to a ban as the U.S. considers ractopamine safe and
doesn’t run such tests.
Moscow’s move is widely seen as retaliation for the U.S. legislation passed Thursday, although Russia denies that. U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul tweeted that the move was “a very unfortunate development.”
