MOSCOW, April 27 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev has said the Russians officials, included on the Magnitsky list for alleged human rights abuses, will not feel the legal consequences of the US act.
“No decisions by other foreign states regarding our nationals should and will have any legal effect for the citizens of this country,” Kolokoltsev said at a meeting with the Interior Ministry’s staff on Saturday.
The United States published its list of 18 Russian officials facing visa and financial sanctions under the Magnitsky Act on April 12. The act had been signed into law by US President Barack Obama in December 2012 and is ostensibly designed to punish officials Washington believes to be connected to Magnitsky’s death.
A senior investigator for the Interior Ministry, Lt. Col Oleg Silchenko, who was in charge of the investigation into Magnitsky and ordered his detention, and Col. Natalya Vinogradova, who oversaw the Magnitsky case, are among the people included on the list.
The Russian interior minister said the Russians who are on the list have no grounds to “worry” about the sanctions if they are “law-abiding” and “have committed no crimes.”
“The restrictions linked to the announcement of the so-called acts will have no practical prospect,” Kolokoltsev said.
Kolokoltsev said the US sanctions under the Magnitsky Act will no way affect the career of the Russian officials. “Those employees who deserve promotion due to professional skills will be promoted,” the minister said.