US unveils list linked to Russian lawyer's death

The Obama administration on Friday unveiled a list of 18 Russians suspected in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, prompting warning from Moscow of adverse effect on an already soured relationship.

The Departments of State and Treasury submitted to Congress the list of persons for their alleged roles in the "detention, abuse, or death" of Magnitsky, or their involvement in certain other " gross human rights violations" in Russia, the State Department said in a statement.

These people, among them prosecutors, investigators and judges, have been barred from entering the United States, and all of their property under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen.

Magnitsky was arrested in November 2008 and died in prison a year later. The Russian authorities closed his case in March, saying no evidence had pointed to his death being caused deliberately.

The U.S. Congress adopted the so-called Magnitsky Act in December, imposing sanctions on Russian officials allegedly responsible for the 37-year-old lawyer's death. Their names had been kept secret.

Russia retaliated by passing the Anti-Magnitsky Act in January, barring U.S. citizens from adopting Russian orphans and banning Americans suspected of human rights violations from entering Russia.

"Publication of any lists, undoubtedly, will highly negatively affect Russia-U.S. relations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also called publication of the list ill-timed, as Thomas Donilon, U.S. President Barack Obama's national security advisor, is scheduled to visit Russia on Sunday and Monday.

"The timing was poorly chosen because Donilon comes to Moscow on Monday with Obama's message," Lavrov told reporters in Switzerland where he was on a visit.

"The 2009 death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in pretrial detention in Moscow was a tragedy, and the investigation into his death has yielded no visible result," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Friday.

"Russian officials implicated directly in Magnitsky's imprisonment and prison officials directly involved in decisions that led to his death remain unpunished," he said.

U.S.-Russian relations have soured since Putin returned to the presidency in May 2012, and the two countries have, in particular, clashed over approaches to the conflict in Syria.

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