Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Russia draws up tit-for-tat U.S. visa bans: report

Reuters. By Thomas Grove

(Reuters) – Russia has drawn up a list of U.S. officials to be barred from entering the country in response to U.S. visa restrictions imposed on Russian officials over the death of a lawyer, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

If the report by the business daily Kommersant is confirmed, the decision will be the latest of several signs in the past few weeks that the “reset” aimed at improving U.S.-Russian relations under U.S. President Barack Obama is under threat.

“In the case of the United States we will simply put a cross next to the names of those who are not wanted. When a person applies for a visa at a Russian consulate he will be rejected,” a Foreign Ministry source told Kommersant.

Reuters could not immediately reach the Foreign Ministry for comment but Interfax news agency quoted a ministry source as saying Russia was still working on its response.

“There could be lists of Americans barred from entering Russia, but the issue is still being worked on,” the source told Interfax.

The U.S. State Department said last month it had placed visa restrictions on Russian officials accused of involvement in the death of hedge fund lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Russian prison as he awaited trial on tax evasion and fraud charges in 2009.

The Kremlin’s human rights council said the 37-year-old lawyer, who represented Hermitage Capital equity fund, was possibly beaten to death. His colleagues say the charges were fabricated by police investigators he had accused of cheating the state through fraudulent tax returns.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said last month the U.S. visa restrictions were unjustified and that it would respond with “adequate measures,” but gave no details.

RESET UNDER THREAT

Kommersant said the ministry had now drawn up a visa blacklist which included U.S. officials linked to the cases of an alleged Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout, and an alleged Russian drug smuggler, Konstantin Yaroshenko.

Yaroshenko was convicted of conspiracy to smuggle drugs to the United States in April, following his arrest by U.S. Special forces in the Liberian capital of Monrovia in May last year.

Bout, who was extradited from Thailand to the United States last November, is awaiting a hearing on charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals and to provide help to a group deemed a terrorist organization by the United States.

He has denied the charges

“Our claims against the United States are much broader and are not limited to the Bout and Yaroshenko cases. We have a list of cases regarding the violation of Russian citizens’ rights,” one of the Foreign Ministry sources told Kommersant.

Obama’s calls for improved relations between the former Cold War foes, following the strains in ties during George W. Bush’s presidency, have raised hopes of better cooperation over missile defense and Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization.

But relations have come under threat in the past few weeks.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin described the United States as a “parasite” on the global economy and President Dmitry Medvedev criticized “senile” U.S. senators for urging Moscow to withdraw troops from breakaway regions in Georgia.

Even so, Obama has portrayed the “reset” as one of his biggest diplomatic achievements and told Russian reporters this month that Putin had been fully supportive of the process.

(Editing by Timothy Heritage and Alistair Lyon) buy viagra online займы на карту без отказа https://www.zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/how-to-get-fast-payday-loan-online.php займы на карту срочно

Russia Bans U.S. Officials In Retaliation

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty.

Moscow has banned several U.S. officials from entering Russia in retaliation for a U.S. blacklist of Russians connected to the prison death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, “Kommersant” newspaper reports, quoting a top Foreign Ministry official.

Magnitsky was arrested in 2008 after accusing police of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars.

Moscow says the American officials on its list violated the rights of Russian citizens, including arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is awaiting trial in a U.S. court.

“Kommersant” quoted concurring sources as saying Russia’s tit-for-tat list, containing “several dozen Americans,” was already ready even though their names would never be disclosed publicly.

The news is the latest sign the “reset” in diplomatic ties between the two countries has deteriorated.
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COHEN: Russian ‘reset’ malfunction. Harsh Washington criticism exposes Soviet-like anti-Americanism

The Washington Times. By Ariel Cohen

The recent Russian threats to cease crucial cooperation with the United States and statements by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s special representative for missile defense cooperation with NATO, raised hackles in Washington. Mr. Putin called the United States a “parasite” on the body of the global economy, while Mr. Rogozin claimed that U.S. senators told him U.S. missile defense is aimed at his country.

Mr. Putin’s statements are baffling, as the global economy needs consumer consumption for growth and the United States is by far the biggest consumer country. In fact, the U.S. trade deficit drives a lot of global growth. Mr. Putin spoke at his United Russia Party youth camp on Lake Seliger, while Mr. Rogozin let his hair down on a visit to Washington after a meeting with two U.S. senators. Two Senate staffers vehemently denied Mr. Rogozin’s allegations in a lengthy discussion with this author.

These are no longer words alone: Russia is threatening to stop cooperating with the United States over Afghanistan, Iran, Libya and North Korea if Congress passes the Sergei Magnitsky sanctions. The toughening Russian negotiating positions and rhetoric – including Mr. Putin’s outburst and Mr. Rogozin’s reference to the senators as “monsters of the Cold War” – suggest the Obama “reset” policy is in deep trouble.

The State Department has placed 64 Russian officials on a visa blacklist that would prevent them from entering the United States. These officials – prosecutors and policemen – all played a role in the death of the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, the most famous whistleblower in post-communist Russian history.

The Foreign Ministry in Moscow loudly protested that the United States is being tough on Russia. But the imposition of sanctions looks more like the State Department’s pre-emptive way to prevent the Senate’s Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2011 (S. 1039) from passing.

Russia has threatened to “respond asymmetrically” against the Obama administration’s “reset” policy if the bill becomes law. In a tit for tat, the Russian foreign ministry reportedly is drawing up a list of U.S. officials who will be banned from Russia and prevented from banking there. While this may be of little concern to Washington, Russian threats to curb cooperation on Afghanistan, Iran, Libya and North Korea are taken more seriously.

To reiterate, Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer representing Hermitage Capital, which was then the largest Western hedge fund operating in Russia, was arrested on spurious tax-evasion charges. Magnitsky alleged that Russian officials swindled $230 million in tax rebates. He died before his trial in 2009 after being denied essential medical care and possibly tortured and beaten. President Dmitry Medvedev said that those who were in charge of Magnitsky committed crimes.

Russia has reluctantly launched investigations into the matter, but the Russian Interior Ministry promoted the Magnitsky interrogators and even pinned medals on them. The case irritated U.S. lawmakers who are actively pursuing this case.

In a way, the U.S. Congress is doing Russia a huge favor. Without external prodding, there is no hope for improvement in that country’s rule of law and investment climate. In fact, S. 1039 is not aimed exclusively at the Magnitsky affair. Other brutal and corrupt officials may be included, such as those who persecuted and expropriated Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former oil magnate. And the bill is not singling out Russia, either. It would target the most notorious wrongdoers in other countries as well.

Now, the U.S. State Department appears to pre-empt and obviate the Senate bill by placing some Russian officials on a visa blacklist. Unlike the Senate, the State Department did not go any further, such as implementing asset freezes.

Foggy Bottom opposes the Magnitsky bill and is campaigning for its defeat. However, according to David J. Kramer, president of Freedom House and the former assistant secretary of state for human rights in the George W. Bush administration, the bill has been integral in keeping the pressure on Russia and has “done more for the cause of human rights [in Russia] than anything done” by the two previous administrations. Mr. Kramer is right.

The Obama administration is worried that inconvenient pressure from Congress may derail the hallowed “reset” policy. President Obama called the “reset” his “great achievement” only days after Mr. Putin’s “parasite” outburst. Maybe he was encouraged by Russia’s issuing a series of postage stamps to commemorate his 50th birthday.

If one takes the White House at its word and the “reset” is truly based on mutual interests between Russia and the United States – not on efforts to appease Moscow into cooperation on nuclear disarmament – then cleaning the Augean stables of Russian corruption and criminality should not derail it.

Yet Moscow’s overblown reaction to the visa ban for suspected criminals working for the Russian state clearly demonstrates its priorities and exposes its anti-Americanism. As Mr. Kramer points out, if Russia is willing to hold back the reset solely based on the Magnitsky case, then the U.S. needs “to re-examine the relationship.”

The U.S. policy toward Russia and other market authoritarians should be a balance of protecting American national interests and upholding American values. The cause of Sergei Magnitsky does that. The flagging “reset” policy does not.

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Senator Ben Cardin on Russian Corruption

The Atlantic Wire – What Matters Now. By ERIC RANDALL

Senator Ben Cardin on Russian Corruption. In The Washington Post, Senator Ben Cardin recalls the story of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian whistleblower who was arrested by those he accused, kept in “torturous” conditions, and denied healthcare as he died in isolation. The Russian government has admitted these facts, but those involved in the scandal remain in positions of power. The United States should take whatever steps possible to hold these Russians accountable, Cardin says. Magnitsky’s case is just one of many examples of gross corruption in Russia and elsewhere. “The Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which I co-sponsored along with 20 other senators, is a broad human rights bill that would invoke a travel ban against serious violators of human rights, freeze any U.S. assets they may possess and publish their names–a powerful deterrent for those craving respectability and legitimacy in the West.” Such a measure will send an important signal both to the corrupt and to those who fight against them, and may protect American companies working in Russia. Cardin supports President Obama’s efforts to warm U.S.-Russian relations but says that only through liberalizing policies can Russia really develop. Encouraging such priorities is especially important in a year that will see elections in both Russia and the United States, Cardin concludes. займ на карту срочно без отказа hairy girl female wrestling zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-cash-advances.php unshaven girl

Russia hits back at US with visa blacklist: Report

The Economic Times. International Business.

MOSCOW: Russia has banned several US citizens from entering the country in retaliation for Washington’s visa blacklist for Russian officials linked to the death of a lawyer in prison, a report said Wednesday.

The Russian move is the latest sign of the damage inflicted on improving ties by the row over the 2009 death of Sergei Magnitsky which has become one of Russia’s most notorious rights cases.

Russia is banning US citizens deemed to have violated the rights of Russians, including Viktor Bout, the alleged arms trader known in the West as the “Merchant of Death” who is now in US custody, the Kommersant daily said.

The United States announced last month it put officials it believes are responsible for the death of Magnitsky on a visa blacklist, provoking a warning from Moscow it risked harming the “reset” in ties.

Kommersant quoted concurring sources as saying Russia’s tit-for-tat list, containing “several dozen Americans”, was already ready even though their names would never be disclosed publicly.

It said those on the list are likely to include officials from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) implicated in the arrest of Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot detained in a drugs smuggling case.

“The list will not be made public. The Americans did not publish theirs and we will not show ours,” a Russian official told the paper.

Another source said those on the list would not just be officials involved in the Bout and Yaroshenko cases as there is a “whole range of instances of the rights of Russian citizens being infringed.”

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov declined to confirm to the paper that the list was ready. But he confirmed “that any American guilty of violating the rights of a Russian” could be included.

Magnitsky had been detained for 11 months awaiting trial in a high-profile fraud case. His supporters have argued top interior ministry officials deliberately neglected his health in an effective attempt to silence him.

However Russia so far has only opened criminal probes against the doctor and deputy chief of a Moscow prison over his death, which was caused by untreated pancreatitis.
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Russian court rejects libel suit from prosecutor in Magnitsky case

Interfax news agency, Moscow.

Moscow, 9 August. Moscow’s Presnenskiy court will not consider a suit filed by prosecutor Pavel Karpov. Karpov wanted rights activists to retract information about his involvement in the embezzlement of government funds during investigations into the case of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergey Magnitskiy, who died in pre-trial detention.

“The court has ruled to reject this application,” the Interfax news agency was told by Moscow’s Presnenskiy court on Tuesday [9 August]. No reasons were given for this decision.

In their report on “the Magnitskiy case”, activists of the presidential council on human rights Lyudmila Alekseyeva, Kirill Kabanov and Tamara Morshchakova accused Karpov of embezzling government funds in the course of the investigation.

In July, Karpov filed a suit against the rights activists in the Presnenskiy court. He said that he had nothing to do with the investigation into the embezzlement of funds and Magnitskiy never accused him of illegally re-registering legal entities and embezzling funds from the Russian budget, and did not make any applications to bring about any sort of accountabilities for him.

Karpov was seeking a retraction of the disseminated information as well as damages of R1 [approximately 3 cents at the current exchange rate].
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Accountability for Sergei Magnitsky’s killers

The Washington Post. Post Opinions. By Ben Cardin

The case of Sergei Magnitsky has come to symbolize the rampant and often violent corruption plaguing the Russian state. Sergei, a 37-year-old tax lawyer, husband and father working for an American firm in Moscow, blew the whistle on the largest known tax fraud in Russian history. For that he was arrested in 2008 by those he accused, and he was imprisoned under torturous conditions for nearly a year. He was denied medical care and beaten by prison guards; he died alone in November 2009 in an isolation cell as doctors waited outside his door. These facts are accepted at the highest levels of Russia’s government, yet those implicated in his death remain unpunished, in positions of authority. Some have even been decorated and promoted.

Sergei joins a heartbreaking list of Russian heroes who lost their lives because they stood up for principle. These ranks include Natalya Estemirova, a brave human rights activist whose bullet-riddled body was found on a roadside in 2009 in the North Caucasus; Anna Politikovskaya, an intrepid reporter shot in Moscow in 2006 while carrying home groceries; and too many others.

While many aspects of Sergei’s and other cases are difficult to pursue in the United States, there are steps we can take.

In April 2010, I called upon the State Department to implement a travel ban against 60 Russian officials involved in Sergei’s torture and death. Last month, State effectively did just that, putting dozens of Russian officials on a visa blacklist. This is a major step, but it doesn’t go far enough.

Sergei’s case is but one of many gross violations of human rights going unpunished in Russia. Additionally, kleptocrats are well aware of the threat to their fortunes from corrupt colleagues and seek financial havens abroad. The Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which I co-sponsored along with 20 other senators, is a broad human rights bill that would invoke a travel ban against serious violators of human rights, freeze any U.S. assets they may possess and publish their names — a powerful deterrent for those craving respectability and legitimacy in the West.

This bipartisan effort sends the unambiguous warning that even if your home country looks the other way as you violate human rights and trample the rule of law, the United States will not stand by as an unwitting accomplice in your crimes. The legislation provides moral support to those who suffer or risk their safety to fight for justice. It will also go a long way in protecting American companies active in the Russian market that risk falling prey to raiding schemes and that may fear reprisal for speaking out.

Shortly after Sergei’s death, the American founding partner of the firm that employed him fled Russia, fearing for his life after evidence surfaced that a similar scheme was about to be perpetrated against other U.S. clients. We know that some of the money stolen from the Russian treasury in the fraud Sergei exposed passed through correspondent accounts at two major U.S. banks. Some involved in this case are known to have links with international arms smugglers and drug cartels.

The threats and cynical reaction to my legislation further expose the character of those who hold power in Russia, where, despite occasional rhetoric from the Kremlin, authorities have failed to take meaningful action to stem the rampant corruption or bring perpetrators of human rights abuses to justice. Their bluster contrasts sharply with the strong support on the Russian street for serious action against corruption and impunity.

We must be willing to see beyond the veil of sovereignty that corrupt officials often hide behind. They use courts, prosecutors, police and international instruments such as Interpol or mutual legal assistance treaties as weapons of intimidation, hoping that outsiders are given pause by their trappings of office and lack of criminal records. We must also protect our financial system from those who would use it to launder ill-gotten gains.

While I support President Obama’s efforts to improve U.S.-Russian relations, we must not abandon American values in the process; nor should we minimize the power of our influence and example. Our president has made clear that Russia’s economic success depends heavily on whether Russia can modernize and liberalize politically. I agree and see a strong, stable Russia that is prosperous and free as a valuable partner in a dangerous world. But we must first make clear that the rule of law and respect for human rights advance better relations and increased trade, and they are not distant goals.

The coming year promises to be an interesting one for bilateral relations, with elections in Russia and the United States. Let’s take the long view and remember our true friends in Russia — in and out of government — and stand with them in the universal cause of liberty and human dignity.

The writer, a Democrat from Maryland, is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and co-chair of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission). hairy woman микрозайм онлайн https://zp-pdl.com/apply-for-payday-loan-online.php https://zp-pdl.com/apply-for-payday-loan-online.php payday loan

How U.S. sanctions can promote human rights in Russia

The Washington Post. By Editorial.

LAST MONTH the Obama administration disclosed it had taken a significant step toward balancing its policy toward Russia, which has focused heavily on striking deals with the authoritarian regime of Vladi­mir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev while mostly ignoring issues of corruption and human rights. In a letter to Congress, the State Department disclosed that several dozen Russian officials implicated in a notorious corruption case that led to the persecution and death of a Russian lawyer had been banned from traveling to the United States.

That the administration was right to act — and that measures such as visa bans matter to foreign elites — has been seen in Russia’s reaction. At first, Russian spokesmen issued vague, empty threats of retaliation. Then authorities announced that two prison doctors implicated in the death of the lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, would be prosecuted. Finally, government prosecutors said last week that they had reopened the case brought against Mr. Magnitsky that led to his imprisonment, mistreatment and death in 2009.

Most likely, the new investigation represents another cynical maneuver by the Russian Interior Ministry, which has managed to protect the police officials responsible for Mr. Magnitsky’s death for two years despite public promises of justice by Mr. Medvedev. The scale of the crimes and the blatancy of the coverup are deeply revealing of the nature of the Russian regime. Mr. Magnitsky was targeted after he disclosed that a group of tax and police officials had embezzled $230 million in government funds. The same officials who stole the money charged him with the embezzlement, imprisoned him in increasingly harsh conditions and denied him medical treatment.

As it happens, Mr. Magnitsky’s employers were an American law firm and a London-based investor; they have since posted voluminous evidence on the Internet showing how police and tax officials channeled tens of millions of dollars into foreign real estate and bank accounts following the embezzlement. A special human rights council reported to Mr. Medvedev last month that the case had been mishandled and singled out a senior police official it said was responsible. Yet the Interior Ministry continues to maintain that there was no wrongdoing — and Mr. Medvedev appears powerless to act against the corrupt cabal.

Pressure from the United States and the European Union — which is also considering sanctions in the Magnitsky case — could help those in Russia who want to combat the culture of criminality that has spread throughout government in the Putin era. But the Obama administration’s action was reluctant; it moved under pressure from Congress, where pending legislation would require a freeze on assets as well as a ban on visas for officials involved in the Magnitsky case and other major human rights cases. The State Department’s letter disclosing the travel ban urged Congress to drop the bill, arguing it could cause Moscow to cease cooperating on sanctions against Iran or in transporting materiel to Afghanistan.

Accepting that argument would mean agreeing with the proposition that the “reset” of relations with Russia means that officials guilty of crimes such as theft, torture and murder must be allowed to travel to the United States and deposit stolen funds here. In fact, the Kremlin will act according to its perceived interests in Iran and Afghanistan, regardless of such decisions. Russia will never be a reliable U.S. partner until cases such as that of Sergei Magnitsky are subject to the rule of law. займы на карту срочный займ https://www.zp-pdl.com www.zp-pdl.com срочный займ на карту онлайн

Russia Could Become U.S. Enemy No. 1

The Moscow Times. By Alexei Bayer

Over the past month, as U.S. politicians busily undermined the country’s economy and the global financial system in an ideological fight over the debt ceiling, Russia quietly awaited its fate. According to a survey by the Public Opinion Fund, some 70 percent of Russians believe that any new global economic crisis would hurt Russia. The experience of the Great Recession 2008 has sunk in: Russia suffered more in the Great Recession than any other large economy.

True, other nations had no way of influencing decision making in Washington, and they are now also being dragged into the current stock market sell-off. But over the long term and behind the scenes, most U.S. allies and trading partners have considerable leverage. For example, China owns $1.2 trillion in U.S. government bonds. Beijing avoids open confrontation and prefers to act quietly, but as the United States’ largest creditor, it has a way of making its views heard. European allies, despite being often frustrated by U.S. unilateralism in recent years, also have some influence on the U.S. government. India and Brazil, too, are acquiring political weight in proportion to their recent economic growth.

Foreign influence in Washington will only increase in coming years. The unseemly fight in Washington over raising the debt ceiling and the near default has shown that the world’s only remaining superpower is in a deep crisis. The United States has lost its national purpose, and its political elites are either divided along ideological lines or in the pocket of the highest bidding lobbyists — or both. This climate is tailor-made for quiet, behind-the-scenes meddling in U.S. domestic affairs from foreign powers that might try to skew U.S. national policy to their benefit.

But not Russia. It, too, lacks a national purpose. Earlier this year, when the Middle East was thrown into turmoil, Russia had an opportunity to become a responsible oil supplier and a true member of the Group of Eight. It should have taken a lead in calming world markets. But the opportunity was missed. Russia remains the troubled teenager of global politics. It is more likely to pointlessly criticize and provoke the United States than work within the framework of the international community.

Yet, while it claims to dislike the existing economic system, it relies on global markets to sell its commodities and buy imports. Russia relies on capital markets to borrow funds and uses the free movement of capital to allow oligarchs and bureaucrats to hide their wealth in foreign banks and buy property abroad.

In late July, the U.S. government took time out of the debt debate to approve visa restrictions on dozens of Russian officials connected to the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. Russia responded by threatening to impose sanctions on Americans.

It is a largely symbolic gesture, but a dangerous one — primarily for Russian elites. So far, U.S. President Barack Obama has shown himself lacking one political skill: allocating blame and creating “enemies of the people.” But the Republicans are far less scrupulous in these areas, and Obama’s successor will likely be much nastier. On the international scene, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, which is both economically inconsequential and unreliable, is a perfect candidate to replace the depleted al-Qaida as the United States’ top enemy. With the U.S. economy sliding into a new recession, a suitable foreign enemy will be an economic and political necessity.

By raising the ante in the fight over the Magnitsky list, Russia has left itself open for more retaliation, possibly also involving Washington’s European allies. This is something that the Russia’s elite certainly won’t like.

Read more: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/russia-could-become-us-enemy-no-1/441714.html#ixzz1UNqw5MMN
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