Get tougher with Vladimir Putin

Boston Globe

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to forego the G8 summit this weekend at Camp David is a noteworthy snub that merits a stiff response. Putin’s absence has engendered a lot of heated speculation. Is Putin honestly, as he alleges, too busy? Or is it a combination of domestic unrest, a potential Kremlin power struggle, and his annoyance at the United States for raising its displeasure about the violence against recent demonstrations that has kept him away?

Whatever the reason, Putin has made clear that his ambitions are not, as the Obama Administration has hoped for too long, to move towards an historic and sweeping nuclear reduction accord. This fact should now free the Obama Administration from the need to mute its criticisms of Putin’s anti-democratic tendencies and disrespect for human rights. The G8 was one snub too many.

In return, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry should hold hearings on the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which would impose a visa ban and asset freeze on Russians involved in the death of a key human rights lawyer, Magnitsky, and other serious abuses. The bill could link Russia’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations status to its willingness to account for its treatment of Magnitsky, who died in Russian custody in 2009 after he allegedly discovered a state-sanctioned Ponzi scheme. Kerry, at the urging of the administration, has been reluctant to advance on the bill out of concern that it would alienate Putin, set back nuclear negotiations, and discourage Russian participation in the G8 summit talks.

Now that Putin is not showing, it frees up Kerry to begin a broad discussion of whether the administration should continue to blindly accept Putin’s promises of democratic reform. Putin clearly understands the potential impact of the Magnitsky act. One of his most pressing priorities regarding the United States, as he recently directed to his Foreign Ministry, will be to “work actively on preventing unilateral extraterritorial sanctions” against Russians. In the wake of Putin’s failure to show up for the G8, Kerry should work actively in the opposite direction. быстрые займы на карту срочный займ на карту zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/get-quick-online-payday-loan-now.php hairy girl