New Video on Magnitsky Sanctions
From www.sergeislaw.org, this video explains how imposing sanctions on those involved in the death of corruption-battling lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in 2009 could make a major difference to accountability and graft in Russia. займ на карту онлайн buy viagra online zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com займ на карту
Replacement of Jackson-Vanik Amendment unacceptable – aide
ITAR-TASS
Russia considers unacceptable the replacement of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to a new decision by the U.S. authorities, presidential aide, Russia’s G-8 Sherpa Arkady Dvorkovich said.
Commenting on the upcoming talks between Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama, Dvorkovich told journalists on Thursday: “I don’t doubt that during the meeting, the names of Jackson and Vanik will come back although there is nothing to discuss because this is the internal problem of the American Administration.”
According to the presidential aide, if it necessary Russia is ready to talk about this. But “we don’t intend to the cancellation of this amendment by any means. Moreover, primarily American companies will be hurt by such actions”, Dvorkovich said.
He stressed that the attempts to replace the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to a new law, “which will solve problems and which seem to see by certain American senators, are unacceptable”.
In addition, Dvorkovich said, “We will be forced to react. But why our countries need this?”
The U.S. House of Representatives will discuss a bill that would impose financial and visa restrictions on Russian officials linked with the criminal persecution of the Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. It is expected that the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs will discuss it next week. The bill is an updated version of a previous legislation, introduced by McGovern and another Tom Lantos commission co-chairman, Frank Wolf. A similar bill has been introduced to the U.S. Senate by Senator Ben Cardin last May. The proposed U.S. legislation has sparked an angry reaction from the Russian authorities. The Obama Administration has been opposed to the bill, saying there was no need to pass special legislation to ban Russian officials allegedly linked to Magnitsky’s death from entering the United States. Earlier, Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak said this document “is America’s violent rejection of the principle of mutual respect in interstate relations”. займ срочно без отказов и проверок займ онлайн https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-in-america.php www.zp-pdl.com займы без отказа
Time to staunch the flow of dirty money from Russia
What to do in the face of 12 more years of Putin? Follow the money, for a start.
The bombast and luxury were spectacular, but the foreign guestlist was on the sparse side. Two former European leaders, Gerhard Schröder and Silvio Berlusconi, were there to see Vladimir Putin inaugurated as Russia’s president in Moscow on 7 May, but almost nobody else from abroad.
That highlights the friendlessness of the Putin regime. But even if foreigners had turned up, what would they have said? Europe and the United States are finding it hard to know what to do as they face perhaps 12 more years of Putin.
One school of thought counsels rapprochement. We have to deal with Russia as it is, rather than as we would like it to be. In Britain, this camp is urging Prime Minister David Cameron to take the opportunity of Putin’s visit to the London Olympics in June to try a British ‘re-set’.
That approach is the triumph of hope over experience. The dire outcome of the American ‘re-set’ highlights the difficulty of trying a fresh start. The Russian regime, burdened with the distorting and paranoid prism of the KGB mind-set, pockets concessions rather than reciprocating them. Indeed, nothing being said or done in Moscow suggests that a softer line will bear fruit. The chief of the Russian general staff recently threatened a pre-emptive strike against US missile-defence installations in Europe.
Another school is ‘business as usual’. That is the approach of Germany and Poland. They have no illusions about Putin (and did not make the US’s error of wasting time and energy dealing with his token stand-in from 2008 to 2012, Dmitry Medvedev). Putin may or may not survive his full term. The regime may even tweak its business model. The main thing is to be sober and realistic, neither provoking nor conceding.
That is wrong too. One reason is that it leaves the countries in Russia’s shadow dangerously exposed. People in this camp have no worries about humiliating Georgia. They are loathe to stand up to Russia if it interferes in the internal politics of the Baltic states. They tend to be overly sanguine about the tide of dirty Russian money swilling through the West’s financial markets.
That is bad not only because the money corrupts those it touches. This stance also makes the West complicit in the misdeeds of the Russian regime. An interesting new note in the opposition protests in Moscow recently is anti-Westernism. Europe and the US are in fact propping up the regime, so goes the argument, because it has invested so many hundreds of billions of dollars in the Western financial system.
This is paradoxical in a sense: Putin thinks the protestors are Western puppets, just as they think he is part of a plutocratic and rapacious global elite. But it is not absurd. Although Western governments may in some cases discreetly wish the protestors well, their efforts are trivial compared with those of banks, law firms, PR companies and others who have their snouts firmly in the Kremlin trough.
Laundering Russian money in the West is lucrative. But it is risky too. What happens when the regime changes? New rulers in Moscow (perhaps liberal, more likely with a nationalist tinge) will have some hard questions for countries that have connived in the looting of the past decade.
The West’s best policy, as the brave and brilliant Russian commentator Lilia Shevtsova points out, would be to “practise what you preach”. Recent steps against Belarus, and a move taken by Swiss investigators arising out of the $230 million (€178m) fraud uncovered by the murdered lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, show what can be done. But so many bigger and juicier targets remain untouched.
The writer is central and eastern Europe correspondent of The Economist. займ на карту без отказов круглосуточно займ на карту срочно без отказа https://zp-pdl.com/fast-and-easy-payday-loans-online.php https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-in-america.php займы на карту срочно
Sergei’s Law – Justice for Sergei Magnitsky
More than two years after lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in a Russian prison, the doctors, guards, and government officials who are to blame have not been held responsible. As Financial Times Moscow Bureau Chief Charles Clover put it: “These guys basically just killed him. They murdered him. They tortured him to death.” If that wasn’t bad enough, the Russian government has chosen to open its first posthumous prosecution in the country’s history against Magnitsky.
While it would be ideal to rely on the Russian justice system to bring these people to justice, time has shown that some type of additional pressure is needed. Enter Sergei’s Law, a US congressional bill that would bar the Russians involved in Magnitsky’s death from entering the United States:
If passed, the bill would send a signal to the Russian government that the treatment of people like Magnitsky is simply unacceptable and will not go without tangible consequences.
As the video shows, more information on how you can help get Sergei’s Law passed can be found at SergeisLaw.com. займы онлайн на карту срочно займы онлайн на карту срочно https://zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php hairy woman
Putin’s effort to block US sanctions serves corrupt officials – Hermitage Capital
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy goal of stopping U.S. sanctions against Russian individuals and companies shows that his government is “working in the interests of corrupt officials”, UK-based investment fund Hermitage Capital said on Wednesday.
Hermitage Capital has campaigned in the United States and Europe for sanctions to be imposed on more than 60 Russian officials who the company says were complicit in the death of its tax lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, or a cover-up of how it occurred.
Magnitsky died in a Russian prison almost a year after he was arrested on tax evasion charges. He had previously claimed that Moscow tax and police officials had embezzled $230 million in tax levied on Hermitage Capital profits.
“Putin’s executive order (to prevent sanctions) shows clearly that the entire Russian government is now working in the interests of corrupt officials who have committed grave crimes,” an unnamed representative of Hermitage Capital said in a statement.
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Russia Says U.S. Human-Rights Sanctions Bill to Harm Ties
Russia warned that a U.S. bill imposing sanctions against Russian officials suspected of human- rights abuses will harm relations between the two countries.
Such a law would be “a gross interference in Russian internal affairs and, of course, it won’t have any positive effect on U.S.-Russian ties, to put it mildly,” Konstantin Dolgov, the Foreign Ministry’s human-rights representative, told reporters in Moscow today.
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has proposed legislation that would impose travel and financial restrictions on any official abusing human rights in Russia, including 60 people suspected of involvement in the death of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow jail in 2009.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry last month warned it would retaliate with unspecified measures against the law. The State Department has said there is “a desire and an interest to make this a matter of law” in Congress and that the Obama administration is discussing the issue as it seeks lawmakers’ support to repeal a 1974 law that restricted trade with the former Soviet Union.
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Putin Snubs G-8 to Punish Obama for Criticism, Official Says
President Vladimir Putin is showing U.S. President Barack Obama his displeasure over the criticism of Russian elections and the lack of progress on a planned missile shield by skipping the Group of Eight summit for the first time as president, said Alexei Pushkov, a senior lawmaker.
The U.S. has “nothing to propose” to Putin at this week’s meeting, while “strong handshakes and smiles” are probably not a priority for him as Russia forms a new government, Pushkov, the head of the foreign-affairs committee in the lower house of parliament, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Russia’s relations with the U.S. are showing strains as Putin begins his third term as president. The two countries have locked horns over missile defense, the future of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Putin has accused foreign powers of financing the biggest anti-government protests in a decade to destabilize Russia, saying that U.S. criticism of a December parliamentary election emboldened the opposition.
“Why does the U.S. think it can be sure the Russian president will pay a visit?” Pushkov said. “The American side thinks it can call the parliamentary election illegitimate, send its ambassador to meet with the radical opposition that shouts ‘Russia without Putin,’ doubt the presidential election and criticize Russian authorities for half a year.”
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Russia Tries to Turn Tables on Human Right
In an attempt to deflect criticism against crackdowns on political protests at home, senior Russian officials on Monday shot back at Western critics, lambasting racism and xenophobia in Europe.
Foreign Ministry and State Duma officials joined researchers and members of nongovernmental organizations in urging representatives of the European Union present at a round-table discussion not to use Russia’s human rights record as a political tool.
“The West doesn’t tolerate criticism of its own human rights violations,” said Vasily Nebenzya, head of the Foreign Ministry’s department for humanitarian cooperation and human rights.
“Human rights have become a weapon,” he said, adding that Russia would treat its critics “with mistrust when they try to teach us [to observe] human rights … as long as our concern [about human rights violations in Europe] is ignored.”
The speeches presented few figures and were very heavy with emotion and personal opinion.
Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s permanent representative to the European Union, suggested that the EU was guilty of hypocrisy for having not yet joined the 1953 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which Russia partially ratified in 1998.
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After WTO Membership: Promoting Human Rights in Russia with the Magnitsky Act
Abstract: Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) will put U.S. companies at a disadvantage with their global competitors unless Congress first exempts Russia from the application of the Jackson–Vanik Amendment, a tool from the 1970s designed to promote human rights that no longer advances that goal. Russia admittedly suffers from weak rule of law and pervasive corruption, but Congress should pass new human rights legislation rather than try to uphold Jackson–Vanik beyond its utility. Then, Congress should grant Russia permanent normal trade relations status, which will promote transparency, property rights, and the rule of law in addition to the expected economic benefits for U.S. companies.
In a few months, Russia will become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). U.S. businesses will not be able to benefit from the concessions Russia made to join the WTO unless Congress first repeals the Jackson–Vanik Amendment, a powerful tool that the U.S. successfully used to promote human rights in Soviet Russia and other countries which restricted emigration during the Cold War. Failure to repeal Jackson–Vanik could place U.S. companies at a disadvantage while companies in other WTO members benefit from significantly increased access to the Russian economy.
Regrettably, the Obama Administration did not work with Congress to resolve these issues before agreeing to Russia’s accession to the WTO. Because accession of a new member requires the unanimous assent of WTO members, the Administration could easily have delayed Russian accession. Now, Russian accession will put U.S. businesses at a disadvantage in Russia until Congress repeals Jackson–Vanik.
To avoid such a scenario, Congress should extend permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to Russia and press for trade reforms that are in the best interests of the United States while supporting the cause of human rights in Russia and around the world. The Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act (S. 1039 and H.R. 4405) would accommodate Russian membership in the WTO, while signaling the long-term American commitment to the rule of law and human rights in Russia and other countries.[1]
A Human Rights Tool Designed for a Different Time
During the Cold War, the Jackson–Vanik Amendment was an important tool for promoting human rights in the Soviet Union and beyond. Attached to the U.S. Trade Act of 1974, the amendment restricts trade with nonmarket economies that limit freedom of emigration and other human rights. It was the U.S. response to Soviet “diploma taxes” on Jews attempting to emigrate from the communist state.
Congress has since granted permanent normal trade status to 10 countries that were targeted by the Jackson–Vanik Amendment[2] (see Table 1), but not Russia. Russia remains on the dwindling list of countries subject to the Jackson–Vanik Amendment even though it is no longer relevant in the 21st century.
In post-Soviet Russia, the circumstances that prompted the Jackson–Vanik Amendment no longer apply. The U.S. government officially lifted Russia’s status as a nonmarket economy on April 1, 2002. The United States has also granted Russia “normal” trade relations under an annual waiver of Jackson–Vanik provisions every year since 1992. Today, Russia, although authoritarian and corrupt, allows free emigration and has thriving Jewish communities. Russian Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar even asked President George W. Bush to repeal the amendment.[3]
Any human rights violations not part of the legislative intent of Jackson–Vanik at the time of its adoption can and should be addressed in other, more effective ways. As Jackson-Vanik covered not just Russia, so should its successor legislation. Furthermore, Congress has more effective ways of addressing legitimate concerns about Russian business and economic practices, such as Russian state-affiliated officials and business entities that are exporting corruption.
Corruption and Human Rights Violations in Russia
In Russia, human and property rights violations are undermining the state and preventing investment and business development. Weak rule of law and pervasive corruption, including the failing court system and law enforcement, are at the heart of persistent rights violations. Western and domestic investors and Russian citizens face these challenges every day. President Vladimir Putin, former president Dmitry Medvedev, and other Russian leaders have bitterly complained about the state of affairs, but have done little to improve things.
Russia’s economic prosperity under Vladimir Putin helped Russia reemerge as a major player on the world stage. Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased from approximately $250 billion after the 1998 crisis to $1.8 trillion 10 years later, before the world financial crisis. Increased oil and natural gas exports—Russia has the seventh largest oil reserves and the largest gas reserves in the world and is the leading exporter of oil and gas—coupled with the higher prices for other Russian commodity exports, have largely driven this economic comeback. Russia uses the revenue from energy exports combined with revenue from arms sales, metals exports, and foreign investments, including in the mining and energy sectors, to extend Russian influence worldwide.[4]
The Kremlin has also used energy exports to Europe as a foreign policy tool, most notoriously through threats to disrupt oil and gas exports to countries that oppose Russia’s perceived national interests. Russia has also acquired or is acquiring energy companies and infrastructure, including pipelines, refineries, and other assets in more than a dozen other European countries. This economic expansion is rife with corruption and influence peddling.[5] Russia’s geo-economic ambitions cover the entire former Soviet area and have negative implications for the security of Europe’s energy supply.[6] Moscow’s ambition and newfound wealth have spread its corrupt domestic business practices to the international community.
Pull Quote: The Kremlin has also used energy exports to Europe as a foreign policy tool, most notoriously through threats to disrupt oil and gas exports to countries that oppose Russia’s perceived national interests.
This wave of corruption should make gathering actionable intelligence on questionable Russian activities and punishing the culprits a priority for the U.S. and its allies.
The Magnitsky Case. The death of Sergei Magnitsky has come to symbolize the systemic and often violent corruption pervading the Russian state. Magnitsky died in jail awaiting trial on fabricated charges of tax evasion and tax fraud. He was jailed after he accused Russian officials of a sophisticated swindle to obtain a $230 million tax rebate from the Russian treasury.
The Magnitsky story began with the expulsion of U.S.-born investor William Browder from Russia in 2005. Browder, a British citizen, was co-founder of Hermitage Capital, once the largest hedge fund in Russia. Hermitage had leaked evidence of corruption in the Russian government to the press on several occasions. Browder was subsequently expelled under the pretense that he posed a threat to national security, although the Russian government has not disclosed any details. Police raided the Moscow office of Hermitage Capital on June 4, 2007.
In the course of his work, Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year-old Firestone Duncan attorney representing Hermitage Capital, uncovered a giant scheme involving the embezzlement of $230 million from the Russian treasury by law enforcement and tax officials. Magnitsky was conveniently detained in 2008 and died in isolation at a Russian prison in November 2009.
An investigation ordered by then-President Dmitry Medvedev and the Russian Presidential Council on Human Rights determined that Magnitsky died after he was denied medical care and beaten by the guards. However, those involved have not been punished, but have remained in power, and some have even been decorated or promoted. In April 2012, Russian state prosecutors dropped charges against the chief doctor at the prison after the statute of limitations expired. The physician had been accused of negligence in Magnitsky’s death.[7] Other officials implicated in Magnitsky’s death have not been punished to date.
In late July 2011, the U.S. Department of State placed 64 Russian officials involved in Magnitsky’s death on a visa blacklist, prompting protests from the Russian government. Blacklisting the officials may have been an attempt by the Obama Administration to preempt and undermine support for the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011.[8]
The Khodorkovsky Case. In 2004, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was Russia’s wealthiest man and the chairman and chief executive officer of the Yukos Oil Company. In 2003, he was arrested on charges of tax fraud, and in 2005, he was sentenced to nine years in prison, which was later reduced to eight. In a second show trial in December 2010, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison to run concurrent with his first sentence. After Khodorkovsky’s conviction, the Russian government auctioned off Yukos Oil at a sharply discounted price to Rosneft, Russia’s state-run oil company in 2006, effectively expropriating without compensation the investments of Yukos shareholders, including many American small investors and mutual funds.
In reality, Khodorkovsky ran afoul of the Putin administration because of his calls to curb corruption and because some Putin associates coveted parts of this lucrative company. The repeated political and financial prosecutions of Russia’s wealthiest man, his partners, and his shareholders have lacked any substantial legal basis. The show trial served to intimidate and control other oligarchs that might consider disobeying the Kremlin.[9] Amnesty International has recognized Khodorkovsky as a political prisoner.
Fighting Russian Corruption. Intelligence is critical in gathering the evidence necessary to secure convictions in courts of law. Such intelligence includes, for instance, Russian banks providing credit card support for child pornography websites. The U.S. should lead in expanding international cooperation among law enforcement agencies to prevent and stop complex transnational crimes, such as money laundering and other crimes involving current or former Russian government officials, oligarchs with close ties to Russian political leaders, intelligence operatives, and persons with ties to organized crime. When Russian entities violate the law,[10] the U.S. and its allies should aggressively prosecute the offenders, confiscate illegally laundered funds and properties acquired with illegally procured funds, and deny visas to government and business figures who are involved in illicit activities.[11]
The Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act
The Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, introduced by Senators Ben Cardin (D–MD) and John McCain (R–AZ) in the Senate and Representatives Ed Royce (R–CA), Chris Smith (R–NJ), and Jim McGovern (D–MA) in the House of Representatives, would “impose sanctions on persons responsible for the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky, for the conspiracy to defraud the Russian Federation of taxes on corporate profits through fraudulent transactions and lawsuits against Hermitage, and for other gross violations of human rights in the Russian Federation.”[12]
While named after Magnitsky, the bill would target human rights abusers around the globe by denying U.S. visas to individuals guilty of massive human rights violations and freezing all of their assets within the purview of the U.S. government. The legislation could also apply to the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose Yukos Oil Company was expropriated by the state for trumped-up tax violations and its assets sold to the Rosneft national oil company.
The Magnitsky bill has prominent supporters, including David J. Kramer, president of Freedom House and former Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights in the George W. Bush Administration. He testified that the Magnitsky bill, even before passage, has already “done more for the cause of human rights [in Russia] than anything done by the Obama Administration…or by the Bush Administration.”[13] Seven leaders of Russia’s pro-democracy movement have also called for the U.S. to replace Jackson–Vanik with the Magnitsky bill:
We, leading figures of the Russian political opposition, strongly stand behind efforts to remove Russia from the provisions of the Jackson–Vanik Amendment. Jackson–Vanik is not helpful in any way—neither for promotion of human rights and democracy in Russia, nor for the economic interests of its people.… [M]uch more effective are targeted sanctions against specific officials involved in human rights abuse, like those named in the Senator Benjamin Cardin’s list in the Sergey Magnitsky case.[14]
Russia has threatened to retaliate “asymmetrically” if Congress passes the bill. It has already banned entry to U.S. officials prosecuting Viktor Bout, an arms trader known as the “Lord of War.”[15] However, such retaliation would need to pass the straight face test both at home and abroad. Protection of international criminals like Bout would be met with jeers.
Russian WTO Membership
Later this year, Russia will finally join the World Trade Organization (WTO). This is a positive development for Russia, which is the largest nation that is not a member of the WTO. It has the world’s sixth largest economy, but ranks only 23rd on the list of U.S. trade partners,[16] placing it just below Thailand and Nigeria. Russia is also the only member of the G-20 group outside the World Trade Organization. Of the 50 largest economies of the world, the Islamic Republic of Iran is the only other country that is not a member.[17] According to WTO reports, about 95 percent of world trade takes place between members. After Russia joins the WTO, that percentage will jump to 97 percent.[18] As noted in a 2006 Congressional Research Service report, “Russia’s motivation for and progress toward accession to the WTO are directly related to efforts to dismantle the Soviet economic system of central planning and replace it with a more market-based economy.”[19]
Russia officially began working on its WTO accession package on June 16, 1993, but progress has been difficult. For example, in 2009, President Putin announced that Russia was no longer interested in individual WTO membership, suggesting instead that the customs union of Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan should be accepted together. This approach, later abandoned, delayed the country’s membership until 2011.[20]
In October 2011, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R–OH) suggested that the U.S. should take into account the dispute over Georgia’s border with Russia: “The Administration should resolve this stalemate in a manner that respects the territorial integrity of Georgia. Then—and only then—will movement on the WTO question be worth considering.”[21] This final stumbling block was removed on November 9, 2011, as Georgia and Russia reached an agreement allowing Russia’s WTO bid to move forward.[22]
On November 10, 2011, the WTO’s Working Party finally adopted Russia’s accession package. At the ministerial conference on December 16, 2011, the trade ministers of the WTO members approved Russia’s bid to join the World Trade Organization. Russia has 220 days after the approval to ratify accession, and it will become a member 30 days after ratification.[23]
Upon ratification by the Russian Duma, the United States and other WTO members will benefit from improved access to Russia’s market, while Russia will benefit from economic liberalization. The Index of Economic Freedom, published by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, shows that countries with low trade barriers have the strongest economies.[24] In the long term, Russia also stands to gain significantly from foreign investment and exposure of corrupt business practices. According to one study, WTO membership could increase Russia’s GDP by up to 11 percent.”[25]
The Risk to U.S. Businesses
WTO membership is granted on a consensus basis, meaning that WTO members must unanimously agree to grant membership to a new country. Ideally, the Obama Administration should have worked with Congress to address human rights issues and the Jackson–Vanik question before agreeing to Russia’s membership. Regrettably, the Administration agreed to Russia’s WTO membership without first getting congressional buy-in. Unless the United States extends PNTR status to Russia, U.S. businesses will not benefit from the concessions Russia made to join the WTO. In that case, companies in every other WTO member would have an advantage over U.S. firms. The 1992 Bilateral Commercial Agreement would continue to apply, but companies in other countries could gain benefits not available to U.S. firms, such as in services exports, intellectual property protection, and dispute resolution.[26]
Currently, the U.S. grants Russia annual waivers to Jackson–Vanik to maintain “normal” trade relations. However, when Russia joins the WTO, the practice of granting annual waivers in lieu of granting permanent normal trade relations, as the U.S. has granted to all other WTO members, would negate the ability of U.S. firms to benefit from the concessions Russia made in order to join the WTO. U.S. businesses engaged in commerce with Russia could be put at a disadvantage compared with companies in other WTO member countries.
The Obama Administration would like to extend permanent normal trade relations to Russia. Granting PNTR combined with implementation of new, targeted human rights measures would benefit both Russia and the United States.[27] Replacing Jackson–Vanik with the Magnitsky Act and granting PNTR to Russia could double U.S. exports to Russia over the next five years according to an estimate from the Peterson Institute for International Economics.[28] However, the Obama Administration views the Magnitsky bill and other human rights legislation as threats to the Administration’s “reset” policy toward Russia.
Pull Quote: Granting PNTR to Russia could double U.S. exports to Russia over the next five years according to an estimate from the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
What the United States Should Do
The U.S. can improve trade relations with Russia while still promoting human rights and the rule of law in Russia and in other countries. Specifically, the U.S. should:
Adopt new measures to protect human rights in Russia and elsewhere. Targeted legislation like the Senate version of the proposed Magnitsky Act would more effectively encourage Russia, and other countries which systematically abuse human rights, to respect the rights of their citizens.
Cooperate with Western banking regulators, intelligence services, and law enforcement agencies to track human rights abusers, as well as Russian state and oligarch money laundering activities, corruption, and unfair competition practices. The Obama Administration should prioritize gathering and acting on intelligence on questionable Russian activities. The U.S. should lead an international effort among law enforcement agencies to prevent and stop complex transnational crimes.[29]
Replace Jackson–Vanik with the Magnitsky Act. This would provide a working system to pinpoint and punish gross violators of human rights, while allowing U.S. firms to compete equally for business in Russia and elsewhere. Extending PNTR to Russia would also promote transparency, property rights, and the rule of law.
Target blatant and systematic abusers of human rights who spend their time or keep their financial resources in the West. The U.S. should coordinate its efforts with its allies in Europe and around the world who are promoting similar pieces of legislation. International cooperation can go a long way in deterring gross violations of individual rights, including property rights, and in promoting the values of the U.S. and its allies in the 21st century.
Conclusion
Russia’s membership in the WTO is a historic event that will greatly benefit Russia and the entire world economy. However, this is not the only U.S. foreign policy concern. America should not ignore the weak rule of law in Russia or its connection to violations of individual rights and human rights and the spread of corruption and organized crime. Congress should take action against those tyrants that systematically violate the natural rights of people, not just in Russia, but around the globe.
The Senate version of the Magnitsky Act or similar legislation would not only empower the U.S. government to take action against such individuals, but also send a clear message that the United States will support the rule of law and freedom in other countries. By placing human rights front and center and then addressing the PNTR issue before Russia joins the WTO, Congress and President Obama can both protect U.S. interests in the global marketplace and maintain America’s stature as a nation that believes in and actively defends human rights.
—Ariel Cohen, PhD, is Senior Research Fellow in Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, at The Heritage Foundation. Bryan Riley is Jay Van Andel Senior Analyst in Trade Policy in the Center for International Trade and Economics at The Heritage Foundation. Anton Altman, an intern in the Davis Center, contributed valuable research in the production of this paper. срочный займ на карту онлайн payday loan https://zp-pdl.com/how-to-get-fast-payday-loan-online.php https://www.zp-pdl.com payday loan
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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