MOSCOW. July 28 (Interfax) - Moscow Helsinki Group head Lyudmila Alexeyeva has said that she does not think that plans by the U.S. Department of State to impose a travel ban on several Russian officials allegedly involved in the death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and the Russian Foreign Ministry's harsh response to it will spark a dispute between Moscow and Washington.
"I do not think that there will be something serious," Russia's veteran human rights activist told Interfax on Thursday.
The main problem is that the investigation into Magnitsky's death in a Moscow jail in November 2009 has been taking too long, and none of those involved in it have been punished yet, she said.
"If this inquiry were honest, there would be no American blacklist. Human rights campaigners have declared to the whole world that no progress has been made in the Magnitsky case investigation and conditions in Russian jails have not improved. Since Magnitsky's death, more than 50 people have died in Moscow detention facilities alone. But nothing has changed," Alexeyeva said.