Russia bans more U.S. residents

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MOSCOW, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Russia has added more names to a list of U.S. residents banned from entering the country, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

Lavrov said the government would not release the identities of those on the list, RIA Novosti reported.

The list was part of a law banning U.S. adoptions of Russian children that passed the Duma last year. The "Dima Yakovlev law" was a response to the U.S. "Serge Magnitsky Act," which imposes sanctions of Russian officials deemed to be human rights violators and was named after a lawyer who died in police custody in Moscow.

A spokesman said the Russian list originally included the names of 11 officials involved in mistreating detainees at the U.S. base in Guantanamo, Cuba. Those added to the list include officials involved in the U.S. prosecution of two Russian citizens and people who have mistreated Russian adoptees.

The newspaper Vedimosti reported last week that one group of people not on the list are political elected or appointed officials like former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

"Logically, Cheney and Rice must not be on the list, as this could have spoiled the diplomatic relations between the two countries," Leonid Kalashnikov, first deputy chairman of the Duma International Affairs Committee, said.