First EU country imposes sanctions on Russian officials
The UK has become the first EU country to impose sanctions on Russian officials implicated in the murder of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, a British daily reports.
Opposition MP Chris Bryant told The Guardian on Saturday (1 October) that UK immigration minister, Damian Green, from the ruling Conservative party, has confirmed they were quietly put on a visa blacklist.
“From conversations with Damian Green, I took it that these people would not be welcomed. It seems now as if there is a secret ban on these people,” he said.
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Putin: a Russian housewife’s dream. . . or a preening, power-obsessed tyrant?
As US President Barack Obama’s ineffectual presidency limps on in hope more than glory, Vladimir Putin’s political power seems unstoppable.
The Russian prime minister is to seek a record third presidential term in “elections” next March, which would see him surge past Stalin’s reign at the helm of the Soviet Union.
Unsurprisingly, the current president, Dmitry Medvedev, described in leaked US cables as playing “Robin to Putin’s Batman”, welcomed his master’s announcement.
But while victory is virtually guaranteed, there has been some dissent at the cosy arrangement with a number of government ministers refusing to go along with the script.
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Activist hopes Europe will follow UK’s lead by imposing sanctions in Magnitsky case
Head of Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alexeyeva has welcomed London’s decision to impose sanctions against the Russian officials who are believed to have been involved in the so-called Magnitsky case.
The news about the sanctions was revealed by British newspaper The Guardian.
“Our cause is growing and getting stronger. I hope that other European countries will follow Britain’s lead,” Alexeyeva told Interfax on Sunday.
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Secret visa bans over death of Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky
Up to 60 Russian officials implicated in the controversial death of a whistleblower have been secretly banned from entering the UK by the British government.
Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was working for Hermitage Capital Management, a British-based investment fund, when he exposed a tax fraud worth pounds 144m, the biggest in Russian history.
After making accusations against Interior Ministry officials, he was arrested and then died in police custody after being denied medical care. Human rights activists say that the father-of-two was tortured and badly beaten in the hours before his death in November 2009. John McCain, the former US presidential candidate, and others have called for sanctions against Russian officials implicated in Magnitsky’s death.
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After Jarring Week, Putin Is Showing New Image
Since President Dmitry Medvedev spectacularly backed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to become his successor last weekend, the world has stopped guessing who will be the country’s next leader.
But Kremlinology does not stop here, and the guessing game started immediately with a new question: What sort of Putin will the world get?
Some political commentators have suggested that Putin is about to change. A popular thesis, propagated in a New York Times article this week, speaks of a “Putin 2.0” who is going to pursue the path followed by Medvedev since 2008.
Putin, the argument goes, is already showing a new image of himself.
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Helping Russia avoid Putin kleptocracy
Revolutions often ignite over pervasive corruption – or rather when enough people demand integrity in government. Arabs had that aha moment this year. In Russia, the moment may be soon with news that Vladimir Putin plans to take back the presidency.
Mr. Putin does not appear the greedy sort, but his harsh consolidation of power has created a political system ranked as one of the world’s most corrupt – worse than Haiti’s or Nigeria’s. Other nations might want to start planning for another Russian revolution in coming years, given what the US Embassy in Moscow has called a “virtual mafia state” centered on the Kremlin.
Polls show a declining popularity among Russians for the once highly admired Putin. And the widespread corruption – estimated at $300 billion a year in kickbacks and bribes – will only hinder necessary reforms to prevent economic troubles as Russia’s oil production declines.
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The genius of Vladimir Putin
There is one incontestably great actor on the world stage today, and he has no interest in following our script. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin — soon to be Russia’s president again — has proven remarkably effective at playing the weak strategic hand he inherited, chalking up triumph after triumph while confirming himself as the strong leader Russians crave. Not one of his international peers evidences so profound an understanding of his or her people, or possesses Putin’s canny ability to size up counterparts.
Putin’s genius — and it is nothing less — begins with an insight into governance that eluded the “great” dictators of the last century: You need control only public life, not personal lives. Putin grasped that human beings need to let off steam about the world’s ills, and that letting them do so around the kitchen table, over a bottle of vodka, does no harm to the state. His tacit compact with the Russian people is that they may do or say what they like behind closed doors, as long as they don’t take it into the streets. He saw that an authoritarian state that stops at the front door is not only tolerable but also more efficient.
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Murder in the Magnitsky case
The mother and friends of the deceased plan to prove that his death in jail was caused by severe torture.
A new twist has occurred in the case of Hermitage Capital Foundation lawyer Sergey Magnitsky’s death at Matrosskaya Tishina (Sailor’s Silence) detention center in Moscow in 2009. The lawyer’s friends and family have learned that investigators initially had strong evidence indicating that he was tortured and killed in jail, though it was presented simply as negligence on the part of medical staff. Now, Magnitsky’s mother is asking the Investigation Committee to file a criminal case against Prosecutor General Yury Chaika, staff members of the Interior Ministry, the FSB, the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) and 11 judges, who, according to her, are responsible for her son’s death.
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Sergei Magnitsky’s mother demands Russian murder investigation
Russia has come under fresh pressure to investigate the high-profile prison death of Sergei Magnitsky, the lawyer who uncovered the biggest tax fraud in Russian history.
In a complaint lodged with prosecutors, the late man’s mother has alleged he was illegally arrested, tortured and murdered in a Moscow prison in November 2009.
Demanding that a fully fledged murder investigation be opened into a case that continues to damage Russia’s relations with the West, Natalia Magnitskaya said: “During the more than one and a half years that have passed since my son’s death I have learnt and reviewed information proving that a crime was committed against my son, and that his death came about as a result of premeditated violent actions.”
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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
