Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Sunday that Moscow saw the U.S. Senate's approval of the Magnitsky Act as an unfriendly step and would take retaliatory measures.

The approval of the bill was the result of internal political struggle in the United States, said Lavrov. "But since it is also an attempt to meddle into our internal affairs, I would like to see the State Duma make a multi-partisan and collective response."

During a meeting with President Vladimir Putin's election agents, the top Russian diplomat suggested that the responses of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, should focus on Americans who had violated certain human rights.

The Magnitsky Act, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 14 and the Senate on Thursday, requires the U.S. government to impose visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials who were believed responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky, an anti-corruption lawyer who died in a Moscow jail in 2009 during his one-year detention after accusing officials of mass tax fraud.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev earlier criticized Washington for backing the act, saying it was unacceptable for one country to impose its will on another.

"This act will cause both symmetrical and asymmetrical responses from our country. They will get nothing good from that," he said.