MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian legislators have given initial approval to a bill that would impose sanctions on Americans accused of human rights violations.
The measure, whose first reading in the lower house of parliament passed by a vote of 431-2, is a response to an American bill that President Barack Obama signed into law later Friday.
The U.S. measure opens new export opportunities for Americans wanting to do business in Russia. But one section would punish Russian officials accused of human rights violations.
The Russian bill does not specify what criteria would be used to assess human rights violations, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said targets could include people who abuse adopted Russian children and people responsible for the creation of secret prisons.
Soon after Obama signed the U.S. bill into law, the ministry issued a withering statement calling it "odious" and "blatant interference in our internal affairs."
The law is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who was arrested by police officials he accused of a $230 million tax fraud. He was repeatedly denied medical treatment and in 2009 died in jail. Russian rights groups accused the Kremlin of failing to prosecute those responsible. Moreover, the officials that Magnitsky accused of fraud went on to be promoted.
