MOSCOW. Aug 9 (Interfax) - Moscow has responded to London's latest sanctions against Russian individuals by closing entry to the country for a number of British representatives, the Foreign Ministry said.
"In response to the unfriendly actions of British authorities, and under the principle of reciprocity, the Russian side decided to impose personal sanctions against a commensurate number of British representatives closely involved in anti-Russian activities. They are banned from entering the Russian Federation," Nikolai Lakhonin, Deputy Director of the ministry's Information and Press Department, stated on the ministry's website.
"In December 2020 and April 2021, the British government announced, under contrived and absurd pretexts, the imposition of personal sanctions against Russian citizens over supposed human rights violations in the Chechen Republic and under the UK government-approved Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regulations."
"Since leaving the EU Britain has used more actively the sanction toolkit, including for the demonstration of its leadership of the campaign to smear Russia. The facility with which London has taken to 'designating' perpetrators and meting out 'punishment' to them can only be described as an attempt at interfering in the internal affairs of another state and exerting pressure on the Russian justice system.
"We renew our call for the UK government to renounce its totally unsubstantiated policy on our country. No unfriendly step will be left an adequate proportionate response," Lakhonin said.