UK puts furtive sanctions on Magnitsky officials
The British Home Office has slapped hush-hush travel bans on Russian officials implicated in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, to mixed reactions in Russia and Britain.
London has been reluctant to openly confront Moscow about the issue, as a tentative reset between the two countries continues its precarious way, although British Prime Minister David Cameron raised the case when he visited Russia last month.
Russian responses
Lyudmila Alexeyeva, veteran human rights campaigner and head of the Moscow branch of the Helsinki Group, welcomed the move. She said she hoped that the example of Britain and the USA, which introduced sanctions earlier, would encourage other European countries, Radio Liberty reported.
Leonid Slutsky, first vice-head of the Duma International Affairs Committee called the Home Office's move an act of provocation, Ekho Moskvy reported.
Secretive
About 60 officials now face visa sanctions, the decision was made by the UK Home Office rather than parliament. Chris Bryant, British Shadow Justice Minister, said the visa ban had been confirmed to him by UK Immigration Minister Damian Green, the Sunday Observer reported.
This was despite an attempt not to publicize the visa bans, for fear of disrupting the thaw in Russo-British relations.
The Home Office said it would not comment on individual cases, but said "we can refuse a visa when an individual's character, conduct or associations make entry to the UK undesirable," the Sunday Observer reported.
Unclear message
"From conversations with Damian Green, I took it that these people would not be welcomed. It seems now as if there is a secret ban on these people," Bryant told the British weekly.
He said that the government should ditch diplomacy in favor of making themselves understood,
"America and countries in the EU are moving towards a full open public ban on these people. If people are not welcome, they should make it clear they are not welcome; not just privately to the individual, but publicly, because it would make it absolutely clear to anybody else that if you are engaged in corruption and criminality in Russia, you are not coming to Britain."
Gaining momentum
In July 150 Dutch MPs voted in favor of sanctions against the officials on the Magnitsky list, although they have yet to come into effect. The same month the US imposed travel bans on the officials and froze their US assets.
Magnitsky's colleagues have accused a number of policemen, investigators and prison officials of orchestrating his death to silence him, after he said he had discovered government officials stealing $230 million. He was accused of the same charges and died in pre-trial detention.
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