BLAGOVESHCHENSK, Russia: The forthcoming publication of a list of Russians barred from the United States over alleged human rights abuses will severely strain relations, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said yesterday, but he also sought to limit the damage.

"The appearance of any lists will doubtless have a very negative effect on bilateral Russian-American relations," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters while accompanying Putin on a trip to eastern Siberia.

"At the same time, these bilateral relations are very multifaceted, and even under the burden of such possible negative manifestations ... they still have many prospects for further development and growth."

President Barack Obama must submit to US lawmakers by today a list of Russians to be barred entry to the United States under a law penalizing Moscow for alleged human rights abuses. Their assets in the United States will also be frozen.

The Magnitsky Act is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in a Moscow jail in 2009 while awaiting trial on tax evasion charges. Relatives and former colleagues say he was jailed by the same officials he had accused of stealing $ 230 million from the state through fraudulent tax rebates.