New U.S. sanctions against Russian people and companies, connected to head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, are contrived, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
"This new restrictions package, as is a custom with the Americans, is contrived and not based on evidence. This is a clunky PR move, aimed at pushing the image of Russians as ‘human rights violators’," she said.
"Those who made those lists have no shortage of imagination," the official continued. "They managed to bring an entire football club, well known beyond Russia, under these restrictions."
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury included a number of Russian people and companies, connected to the head of Chechnya, whom the U.S. authorities consider involved in "serious violations of human rights" in sanctions lists. Kadyrov himself, previously hit by restrictions, has been blacklisted under the "global Magnitsky Act."
The same act also imposes restrictions against the Akhmat Football Club, the Akhmat Absolute Championship company, the Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation, the Megastroyinvest company, the Akhmat mixed martial arts club, and the Chechnya Mineral Waters company.
