Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Anti-Russian Amendment Now Headache for U.S.

RIA Novosti

Economic sanctions against Russia imposed by the United States in 1974 could backfire on America this year, but are likely to stay in place because of persistent political and ideological grudges between the two Cold War rivals, analysts said.

The Jackson-Vanik amendment was defunct in practice over the last two decades, but things got tricky after Russia completed its 18-year-long path to the World Trade Organization (WTO) last year, with more than a little help from the White House.

WTO rules ban formal trade restrictions such as the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which means the United States could face economic sanctions from Moscow and pressure from WTO once Russia completes the treaty’s ratification, expected this summer.

Elections First

“Russia has no practical interest in canceling the Jackson-Vanik amendment,” Konstantin Kosachyov, then-State Duma lawmaker with United Russia and deputy head of the international affairs committee at the lower chamber, said in late February.