Spinning the Realities of the Reset
The Washington Post’s editorial page is entitled to endorse Barack Obama for president—as it did in October 2008—but all too often the paper’s reporters appear to endorse the administration as well, through slanted reporting that fails to question administration policy and perspectives and in fact serves to defend them. Kathy Lally’s May 17 article “Anti-American rhetoric subsides in Russia” is the latest example of the Post’s weak and simplistic work.
Lally implies that Moscow’s rhetoric and policy toward Washington are softening after Vladimir Putin’s reelection as president—something administration officials doubtless hope is true, given the emphasis they have put on the “reset”—and then proceeds to make her case on the basis of a superficial reading of Putin’s May 7 instructions to the Russian Foreign Ministry, buttressed by quotes from two liberal Moscow intellectuals and a woman in the audience at a U.S. embassy-sponsored jazz concert.
Putin’s decree does call for “stable and predictable cooperation” aimed at “a truly strategic level” of cooperation—but then proceeds to explain that this should be on the basis of “non-interference in internal affairs” “respect for mutual interests,” and remaining “committed to Russia’s position” on missile defense. If Lally had read the decree carefully rather than selectively, it should have been apparent to someone with her experience in Russia that it does not signal any improvement in Russian policy—on the contrary, it pays lip service to cooperation while emphasizing Moscow’s grievances diplomatically but clearly. The contrast is especially apparent if one also reads the section on Europe, which is largely unqualified in its positive tone and also appears much earlier in the document in a not-too-subtle statement about Russian priorities. Putin’s decision to skip the G-8 summit at Camp David, and to attend the Beijing summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in early June, makes a similar point.
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Urge Your Member of Congress to Co-Sponsor the Magnitsky Act (S. 1039 and H.R.4405)
More co-sponsors are needed to support the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act in the U.S. Congress, and to ensure its passage. The legislation is essential as it is directed towards stemming human rights abuses and corruption in the Russian Federation.
As the recent fraudulent Duma and presidential elections have shown, along with Vladimir Putin’s return to the Russian presidency, the potential for continued abuses by the Russian state grows greater. The continual authoritarian backsliding of the regime, rampant corruption, human rights violations, and lack of accountability and cynicism towards rule of law endangers not only democratic forces within Russia, but poses threats to other countries, particularly neighboring ones like Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
The Senate Magnitsky Act (S. 1039), introduced by Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) on May 19, 2011 currently has 33 co-sponsors. The current House bill (H.R. 4405) was reintroduced on April 19 this year by Congressman James McGovern (D-MA), and currently has 23 co-sponsors. The coming few weeks will be critical for helping bring this legislation up for a vote.
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Court upholds posthumous investigation against Magnitsky
The Moscow City Court on Monday, May 21, upheld the decision to resume the investigation of Hermitage Capital Management auditor Sergei Magnitsky, who was charged with tax evasion and who died in an investigation prison.
The court thus rejected Magnitsky’s relatives’ cassation complaint in which they said that a resumption of the posthumous investigation would be unlawful and unconstitutional because “it is conducted not for the purpose of rehabilitation but for the purpose of accusation”.
The Interior Ministry also said that the investigators have no grounds for “Magnitsky’s rehabilitation”.
Magnitsky’s relatives claimed that further criminal proceedings after his death could be possible under law only for the purpose of his rehabilitation or with their consent. But neither is the case.
Having heard the arguments on both sides, the criminal board of the Moscow City Court ruled against the complaint. срочный займ payday loan https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-in-america.php https://zp-pdl.com срочный займ на карту
Moscow Warns West Against Interfering in Magnitsky Case
Russia considers it unacceptable for other countries to interfere in its domestic court trial over the late Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky charged with tax evasion, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
Magnitsky, an anti-corruption lawyer who worked with the Hermitage Capital investment fund, died in Moscow’s infamous Matrosskaya Tishina pretrial detention center in November 2009, a year after he was arrested on tax evasion charges. Although he is dead, Russian prosecutors reopened the case against him earlier this year.
“The situation when ‘the Magnitsky case’ is used for political speculations and initiatives on some kind of sanctions in regard to Russia is unacceptable for us,” the ministry said in a statement.
The U.S. Department of State issued visa bans for several dozen Russian officials in connection to the Magnitsky case in July 2011. In response, Russia has also imposed travel bans on several U.S. officials.
“We hope that our foreign partners will draw correct conclusions and will abstain from actions or statements that could influence the result of the case over Magnitsky,” the statement said.
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Senator Cardin, Interview for VOA
In his interview to VOA’s Victoria Kupchinetsky, Senator Cardin talks about “Magnitsky list”, shares what he would tell Vladimir Putin if he had a chance to sit down with him, describes his fight against human rights violations in the US and abroad, and gives an idea of what an ordinary day of a US Senator consists of.
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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.
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The Myth of a U.S.-Russia Strategic Partnership
After four years of Dmitry Medvedev keeping the czar’s throne warm, Vladimir Putin is once again Russia’s president. There were no public celebrations to accompany Mr. Putin’s inauguration on May 7. Quite the opposite. Moscow’s streets had been cleared by a huge security presence; the city turned into a ghost town. This scene came the day after massive protests showed that the Russian middle class rejects Mr. Putin’s bid to become their president for life. With no independent legislature or judiciary at our disposal, Mr. Putin’s impeachment will have to take place in the streets.
Meanwhile, this modern czar is using the full power of the state to stamp out Russia’s growing democracy movement. Two young movement leaders, Alexei Navalny and Sergei Udaltsov, were arrested on May 6 and are still in jail on 15-day sentences. They’ve been charged with “violently resisting arrest,” even though several videos of the arrest show Mr. Navalny with his hands in the air shouting, “Don’t resist! Don’t resist!”
Naturally, the court has forbidden the admission of any video evidence in the case. It is possible that a criminal case will be added against them for “inciting mass violence”—Kremlin code for a political trial.
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In This Russian Trial, The Defendant Is A Dead Man
The Russian government is about to put a dead man on trial.
Sergei Magnitsky was a tax lawyer for the investment fund Hermitage Capital, at one time the largest foreign investment firm in Russia.
In 2007, Hermitage Capital was seized by the Russian tax police, and through a number of shady maneuvers, they extracted more than $230 million in illegal tax refunds for themselves.
Magnitsky decided to investigate, angering those who had stolen the company. They had him arrested, and he died in prison in 2009.
But the case didn’t die with him — far from it. Now, it seems those who perpetrated the fraud have found it beneficial to reopen his case and bring him to trial, says Elena Panfilova, the director of the human rights organization Transparency International in Russia.
“They need to protect themselves or somebody they know,” she says. “Not maybe necessarily themselves, like physically, but maybe they need to protect their own institution from being blamed for doing something wrong.”
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It is not time to normalize trade relations with Russia
The Obama administration should “go slow” on normalizing trade relations with Russia until Moscow shows it’s serious about curbing human rights abuses.
A key part of “normalization” is extending Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status to Russia. This has been denied since 1974, when passage of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment barred the U.S. from granting that status to any country that restricts emigration.
Designed primarily to free Soviet Jews and other minorities from state repression, the amendment is largely non-responsive to conditions in post-Soviet Russia.
That’s why every American president, with the exception of Ronald Reagan, has routinely granted Moscow a waiver from the amendment since the collapse of the Soviet empire.
But that’s not to say that today’s Russia boasts a stellar human rights record. Indeed, basic rights, including the right to own property, are attacked persistently and systematically.
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To learn more about what happened to Sergei Magnitsky please read below
- Sergei Magnitsky
- Why was Sergei Magnitsky arrested?
- Sergei Magnitsky’s torture and death in prison
- President’s investigation sabotaged and going nowhere
- The corrupt officers attempt to arrest 8 lawyers
- Past crimes committed by the same corrupt officers
- Petitions requesting a real investigation into Magnitsky's death
- Worldwide reaction, calls to punish those responsible for corruption and murder
- Complaints against Lt.Col. Kuznetsov
- Complaints against Major Karpov
- Cover up
- Press about Magnitsky
- Bloggers about Magnitsky
- Corrupt officers:
- Sign petition
- Citizen investigator
- Join Justice for Magnitsky group on Facebook
- Contact us
- Sergei Magnitsky
