Russia blacklists 12 Americans to counter US sanctions

The Russian Foreign Ministry Saturday published a list of 12 Americans barred from entering the country after the United States expanded sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.

"Last year we published the Guantanamo list of 18 persons to match the number of Russians in the Magnitsky list. This time we acted reciprocally and denied entry to 12 Americans," Xinhua reported citing ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich as saying.

The blacklist included persons related to legalising and using torture against inmates of the Guantanamo prison in Cuba, and US servicemen involved in abuses against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq or those who concealed crimes.

In particular, Moscow banned entry for US congressman James Moran in response to a similar move by Washington against Russian State Duma (lower house of the parliament) deputy Adam Delimkhanov.

The spokesman also said the fresh US sanctions against Moscow "will inevitably boomerang on American business that is oriented to the Russian market".

Washington unleashed a new wave of sanctions against Russia's energy, defence and banking sectors Wednesday, followed by the European Union with relatively limited sanctions.