In response to similar actions
Russia is preventing new British officials from entering its territory
Alexey Navalny.
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Yesterday, Russia imposed sanctions on new British officials by preventing them from entering its territory, in response to similar measures adopted by London against Moscow last October, against the background of "poisoning" the Russian opposition, President Alexei Navalny.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement: "Russia has decided, based on the principle of reciprocity, to increase the number of British officials who are prevented from entering our country," without specifying the identity and number of British officials.
And Moscow indicated that the British concerned were "involved in the escalation of sanctions against Russia."
The statement confirmed that the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador to Moscow, Deborah Brunart, yesterday, to inform her of this decision.
London imposed sanctions on seven Russian officials last October, including the head of the Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, and businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is close to President Vladimir Putin, over the "poisoning" of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the Kremlin's interference in the Libyan war.
The health condition of Navalny deteriorated when he was on a plane in Siberia last August, after he received treatment in a hospital in Siberia, and was transferred to a Berlin hospital and discharged a few weeks later.
Three European laboratories concluded that Navalny was poisoned with the nerve gas Novichok developed for military purposes in the Soviet era.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed this conclusion.
The Russian authorities, for their part, deny any responsibility and question the hypothesis of poisoning.
Yesterday, Moscow condemned the sanctions that were adopted in October, saying they were "unconstructive, unacceptable and illogical behavior" by London.
* Moscow affirms that the sanctions imposed by London against it are "unacceptable."
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