MOSCOW BARS MORE EU OFFICIALS OVER NAVALNY SANCTIONS

Russia said on Tuesday it had expanded its list of European Union officials barred from the country in response to what it described as “unacceptable” sanctions against Moscow over the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Russia's foreign ministry did not name the officials, but called in senior diplomats from the German, Swedish and French embassies to notify them of the move following EU sanctions imposed in mid-October, the TASS news agency reported.

“... We will continue to respond appropriately to unfriendly actions by western countries,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The EU and Britain imposed sanctions on six Russians and a state scientific research centre accused of deploying a banned nerve agent designed for military use against Navalny, a leading critic of President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin on Tuesday mocked Navalny and tried to call his sanity into question, a day after he said he had tricked a Russian agent into disclosing lurid details of a botched plot to kill him.