Russia confirms extension of U.S. ‘blacklist’

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia confirmed on Tuesday, Jan 29, it is extending its "Dima Yakovlev" blacklist to include more U.S. citizens deemed to be human rights violators, who will be banned from entering the country in the latest tit-for-tat retaliation for the U.S. Magnitsky Act, RIA Novosti reported.

“The Foreign Ministry is carrying out the law known as the Dima Yakovlev Law, including the part which mentions the compilation of a list. But we are not disclosing the names [on it],” Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said.

The Russian blacklist, also known as the “Guantanamo List,” was drawn up last fall in response to the Magnitsky Act, initially including 11 U.S. officials allegedly involved in human rights violations and torture at the Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba and in secret CIA prisons across Europe.

Sixty more people linked with the criminal prosecution of Russian nationals Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, as well as violations against adopted children and the authors and lobbyists of the Magnitsky Law have been added to the list, according to State Duma International Affairs Committee Head Alexei Pushkov.

It does not, however, include any politicians such as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Vice President Dick Cheney, whom the Foreign Ministry holds responsible for the Guantanamo Bay facility, Vedomosti newspaper reported last week.

These names were mentioned in the Foreign Ministry’s report on human rights violations presented last October, Vedomosti said.

“Logically, Cheney and Rice must not be on the list, as this could have spoiled the diplomatic relations between the two countries,” said State Duma International Affairs Committee First Deputy Chairman Leonid Kalashnikov.

The U.S. government passed the Magnitsky Act in December 2012, introducing a blacklist of Russian officials allegedly linked to the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky at a Russian prison in 2009. Russia immediately promised to retaliate for the measure.

The Dima Yakovlev Law, which was signed by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in late December, bans adoptions of Russian children by U.S. parents. It would also see alleged U.S. rights abusers blacklisted for Russian entry, their assets in Russia seized and operations there by their companies suspended.