Moscow-Sana
Russia announced the imposition of sanctions on a number of British officials in response to the restrictive measures taken by London against Russian citizens in the context of the alleged poisoning of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.
Russia Today quoted the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement that it today summoned Britain's ambassador to Moscow, Deborah Brunnert, and handed her a memorandum regarding the Russian response to the “unconstructive and hostile” steps related to the adoption of unacceptable and unjustified restrictive measures last October against some Russian citizens for alleged involvement. In the Navalny case.
The ministry clarified that the Russian response, which is based on the principle of reciprocity, includes expanding the list of British citizens banned from entering Russia, pointing out that the new blacklist includes people responsible for "escalating punitive activities against Russia."
The aforementioned British sanctions list is identical to that adopted last October by the European Union and includes senior officials in the administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Ministry of Defense.
Russia categorically denies Western allegations that Navalny was poisoned last August by elements of the Russian intelligence services condemning the West's politicization of the issue and its refusal to cooperate in order to reveal the truth of the accident.