MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) — Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday published the list of 12 US citizens banned from entering the country in response to a new round of sanctions against Russia, recently imposed by the United States over the Ukrainian crisis.
«Everyone knows that after Americans published the infamous Magnitsky List we compiled our Guantanamo List, in which we include those US citizens — former and acting officials — who are responsible for violating human rights, prosecuting our countrymen, and abusing children adopted from Russia," the ministry’s spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.
«Last year, we published the Guantanamo List composed of 18 names, which corresponded to the number of Russians in the Magnitsky List. This time, we did the same — banned entry to 12 Americans," he added.
Russia’s new so-called stop list remains open and so far includes individuals that were involved in tortures at the US Guantanamo prison in Cuba and Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, as well as Congressman Jim Moran.
Republican Moran, an outspoken opponent of Russia, was banned after Washington blacklisted Russian lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party Adam Delimkhanov with no explanation, Lukashevich said.
The list also includes Navy Rear Adm. Richard Butler, commander of Joint Task Force-Guantanamo; U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler; Ricardo Sanchez, retired commander of the coalition Ground Forces in Iraq, the Former Head of Abu Ghraib Janis Karpinski; Steven Jordan, the former head of the Interrogation Center at Abu Ghraib; US Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick, responsible for torture at Abu Ghraib.
The ban also affects several soldiers, who took part in tortures at Abu Ghraib - Sergeant Javal Davis, Charles Graner, Sabrina Harman, Jeremy Sivits, Lynndie England, and Israel Rivera.
The ministry said those banned will only find out about the restrictions when they apply for a Russian visa.
In May, the US Treasury Department added 12 Russian nationals to the so-called Magnitsky Sanctions Designations list, which imposes visa and financial sanctions on individuals deemed by Washington to be complicit in the 2009 death of whistleblowing Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow jail, as well as other purported human rights abuses.
The sanctions came days before the presidential elections in Ukraine, and two months after Crimea's reunification with Russia - a move largely criticized by the West.
Moscow then accused Washington of double standards and promised an adequate response.
