(VOVworld) – Russia announced on Wednesday that it will respond to US sanctions against 12 Russian citizens under the so-called Magnitsky Act. Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the US decision was purely political.
The Ministry accused the US of applying a “double standard” in backing Ukraine’s interim administration’s military operations against protestors in eastern Ukraine. Russia’s response followed President Obama’s announcement of sanctions against 12 Russian citizens for human rights abuses. The sanctions include a ban on doing business with the US, a ban on travel visas, and a freeze on assets for persons involved in the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky at a Moscow prison in 2009.

US Vice President Joe Biden warned that Washington is likely to impose stricter sanctions against Russia if Moscow interferes in Ukraine’s election scheduled to take place on Sunday.