Moscow uses Irish adoption threat to block use of Magnitsky list

Financial Times

Russia has threatened to block Irish adoptions of Russian children if the Dublin parliament adopts a US-style “Magnitsky List” imposing sanctions on Russian officials.

Moscow barred US citizens from adopting Russians in retaliation for the US Congress passing the Magnitsky Act last December, marking a chill in transatlantic relations. The act imposed visa bans and asset freezes on officials allegedly connected with the 2009 death in jail of the anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

The warning to Ireland, in a letter from Russia’s ambassador to the parliament’s foreign affairs and trade committee, is the first time Moscow has threatened similar action against another country.
It appears designed to head off attempts to persuade other EU states to adopt Magnitsky measures. Ireland holds the EU presidency, and a draft motion before the committee last month called on the government to use that role “to impose EU-wide visa sanctions”.

The March 11 letter from Maxim Peshkov, a career diplomat, warns that steps by Ireland towards adopting such sanctions “can have negative influence on the negotiations on the Adoption Agreement between Russia and Ireland being proceeded”.

The Russian embassy in Dublin on Thursday declined to connect calls to Mr Peshkov, saying the embassy was “closed for technical reasons”.

Bill Browder, the formerly Russian-based fund manager who employed Magnitsky and has led the campaign to bring those linked to his death to justice, said the letter was an “attack on Irish democracy”.
“Even though Ireland is a small country, the fact that they are [EU] president means they have a hugely disproportionate voice, for a fixed period,” he said. “The Irish parliamentarians have interpreted this as a threat to their adoptions.”

The committee’s original draft motion called for US-style visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials linked to Magnitsky’s death, and “all other gross human rights violators”. A revised draft discussed this week was substantially watered down, removing sanctions and calling on the government only to express concern to Russian authorities and demand a report into the lawyer’s death.

Pat Breen, chairman of the foreign affairs committee, told the FT the Russian ambassador’s letter had indicated the issue could affect areas such as trade, as well as adoption. He said a balance had to be struck.

“I have received a lot of emails from people who are waiting to see if they can adopt from Russia. It is a sensitive issue,” he said.

But Jim Walsh, an Irish senator who drew up the original motion, said the committee must not be intimidated, and should continue to push for sanctions.

“It is very important that we uphold our traditional independence and commitment in the field of human rights,” he said.

The committee will meet again next week to try to come up with an agreed motion.
The adoption lobby in Ireland is politically powerful because the demand for overseas adoptions is much higher than the number of children available.

Russia is the second-largest source country for Irish couples, who have adopted about 1,600 Russian children. However, adoptions were halted in 2010 when Dublin enacted the Hague Convention on intra-country adoptions, international rules to which Russia has not signed up.

Dublin is negotiating a bilateral agreement with Moscow that would enable adoptions to resume. Frances Fitzgerald, Ireland’s children’s minister, met senior Russian officials in Moscow in February.
Mr Walsh said Russia’s threat to block adoption was unreasonable because it “penalises your own people rather than the country you are targeting”.

Since the economic crisis began in 2008, Dublin has been anxious to build economic ties and boost trade with Russia. It has lobbied Moscow to help recover €500m of property assets put out of reach of the state-owned Anglo Irish Bank in Russia and Ukraine by Sean Quinn, formerly Ireland’s richest man and now a bankrupt. срочный займ на карту займ на карту без отказов круглосуточно www.zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-in-america.php займ на карту срочно без отказа