Russia will introduce new restrictions against the UK in response to the London sanctions in the case of Alexei Navalny a>. This was reported by the Kommersant newspaper citing sources in the Russian Foreign Ministry.
According to the publication, British Ambassador to Russia Deborah Bronnert will be summoned to Foreign Ministry Wednesday, December 30. It is expected that the Russian Foreign Ministry will inform her about the expansion of the list of British citizens who will be banned from entering Russia.
This step will be Moscow’s response to the sanctions previously imposed by Great Britain against Russian citizens due to the incident with Alexei Navalny. “The answer is mirrored and includes six senior UK officials associated with the military chemical program and related to the military laboratory at Porton Down. In particular, it included two deputy ministers, the head of the secret service, the leadership of the scientific and technical laboratory of the British armed forces,” – said the source of the publication.
Alexei Navalny’s health deteriorated sharply during the flight from Tomsk to Moscow on August 20, the plane made an emergency landing in Omsk. On August 22, the oppositionist was taken to a Berlin clinic, whose specialists announced the discovery of traces of a substance from the Novichok group in the Russian’s body. Russian doctors, who also conducted research, found no poisons. After his recovery, Navalny announced the involvement of the Russian leadership in his poisoning.
October 15 European Union imposed sanctions against six Russians and one scientific institute because of the situation with Navalny. In particular, the director of FSB Alexander Bortnikov , Head of the Russian President’s Internal Policy Department Andrey Yarin and others. Following the EU, the UK imposed restrictions. Last week, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that in response to the sanctions it will expand the list of country representatives – EU members who are prohibited from entering the country.