Senate Panel Advances Trade Bill With Russia

New York Times

A Senate committee advanced a measure on Wednesday to normalize trade relations with Russia for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union while also sanctioning officials implicated in human rights abuses.

With the measure passed in the Senate Finance Committee on a unanimous vote, lawmakers dispensed with two decades of resistance to lifting cold war-era restrictions under the so-called Jackson-Vanik law. But senators insisted on the human rights sanctions to send a message to President Vladimir V. Putin as Moscow under his new term cracks down on dissent.

The trade move has been a priority of President Obama’s as he seeks to improve Russian-American relations, but his administration unsuccessfully lobbied against adding the sanctions, arguing that it was already taking action on human rights. The sanctions have provoked deep anger in Moscow at a time when Mr. Obama has been seeking help from Mr. Putin in resolving the crisis in Syria.

Russian lawmakers visited Washington last week to lobby against the sanctions, and on Tuesday, Moscow repeated its plan to respond tit for tat.

“There is a whole range of situations in the U.S. where senior and other officials of this country’s ministries and agencies are responsible for systematic and severe human rights violations,” Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, told the Interfax news agency.

The move to lift Jackson-Vanik comes as Russia is slated to join the World Trade Organization by the end of summer. Only countries that have permanent normal trade relations can take advantage of the lower trade barriers that come with W.T.O. membership so American businesses have pushed for normalization. One study estimated that American exports would double to $19 billion within five years as a result.

Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, said the legislation would “help create more American jobs and ensure American businesses stay competitive worldwide.” He added that he remained “deeply concerned about other aspects of Russia’s international activities” and thought the sanctions would be important.

Russia is one of very few countries that still do not have such trade status with the United States, which has already normalized trade relations with former communist countries like Ukraine, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, and even with communist-run nations like China and Vietnam.

But American lawmakers have been reluctant to take action while Mr. Putin has moved against protesters and others hostile to his rule. The solution they came up with was the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, named for a Russian lawyer who was arrested and died in prison after investigating official corruption.

The Magnitsky measure requires that those responsible for human rights violations be denied visas and have their assets frozen. The State Department has already denied visas for some officials implicated in Mr. Magnitsky’s death. The Senate bill expanded the sanctions to apply worldwide.

A House committee has passed another version of the Magnitsky legislation applied just to Russia, but the Jackson-Vanik repeal has lingered. A Senate aide said Wednesday’s action may put pressure on the House to take action. Senator Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who leads the Finance Committee, said his goal was to pass the legislation before Russian W.T.O. membership takes effect to avoid ill effects for American businesses. срочный займ займ на карту срочно без отказа https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php https://zp-pdl.com/best-payday-loans.php онлайн займ