This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Washington risked further inflaming relations with Moscow on Friday by targeting 18 Russian officials for alleged human rights abuses and threatening them with financial sanctions and visa bans.

The names, released by the Treasury, follow the passage of a controversial bill through Congress requiring the US to take retribution against Russians alleged to have been involved in covering up corruption and organised crime.

Known as the Magnitsky Act, after the Russian lawyer and whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, who was arrested in 2008 for tax evasion after accusing Russian officials of stealing $230m in tax rebates. In prison, Magnitsky was repeatedly beaten and denied medical treatment. He died in 2009 of untreated pancreatitis.

Russia responded angrily to the act, imposing a ban on US adoptions of Russian children as a tit-for-tat measure that marked a new low in recent relations.

Publication of the names on Friday raised fears in Washington that a new row over Magnitsky could damage relations at a sensitive time.

On Thursday, the administration announced that national security adviser Tom Donilon will travel to Moscow this month to discuss co-operation on issues such as Syria and North Korea.

The State Department stressed that the US government was merely "complying with its legislative requirements" in publishing the names.

"Our approach to Russia is to seek co-operation on matters of mutual interest while speaking openly about our differences," said acting deputy spokesperson Patrick Ventrell.

The list focused almost exclusively on those directly tied to Magnitsky's arrest and subsequent death in prison, including police officers Pavel Karpov and Artyom Kuznetsov, and former tax official Olga Stepanova. Magnitsky was arrested after linking the three to a tax fraud scheme that saw them grow enormously, if secretly, wealthy.

Lobbyists in the US and many inside the Russian opposition had been expecting a list of around 200 names, stretching inside Vladimir Putin's inner circle. Announcing the news of the list's release, state media focused on the fact that no high-ranking officials were included.

The only two members of the list not directly linked to Magnitsky were two Chechens believed to be involved in unsolved murders. Lecha Bogatirov has been linked to the murder in Vienna of Umar Israilov – a Chechen exile and critic of Ramzan Kadyrov – in 2009, while Kazbek Dukuzov has been tied to the murder of American journalist Paul Klebnikov in Moscow in 2004.

Anxiety over the list has dominated Russian politics for months. In December, Russia banned all Americans from adopting Russian children in response to the Magnitsky Act. They are believed to be readying a symmetrical response to the list as well.

The law targets not only those tied to Magnitsky's death, but also those involved in other abuses. President Barack Obama initially resisted the legislation but agreed to it in a measure easing trade restrictions with Russia.

Some of the lawmakers behind the legislation are now pressuring the Obama administration to target high-level officials, including some close to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Congressman Jim McGovern, a Democrat, sent the administration more than 250 names to be targeted. The law also allows the administration to compile a separate classified list that would subject officials only to visa bans. The administration can update both lists any time.

Additional reporting by Associated Press.