Posts Tagged ‘Cardin’
Sergei Magnitsky: sanctions in the name of justice, Zoya Svetova
It is nearly two years since Sergei Magnitsky died a shocking death in Moscow’s Matrosskaya tishina prison. Since then, an imaginative campaign by friends and colleagues has kept his case in international spotlight. For Zoya Svetova, the recent decision by US authorities to impose visa sanctions against sixty Russian officials may prove the campaign’s most crucial success yet.
On 6 August, President Barack Obama signed an order imposing travel restrictions on some sixty Russian officials associated with the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. Magnitsky, who had been working for the Hermitage Capital investment fund, died in controversial circumstances in the Matrosskaya tishina detention centre on 16 November 2009. Compiled by US Democratic senator Benjamin Cardin approximately one year ago, the “Magnitsky list” includes prosecutors, judges, a Moscow police chief, tax inspectors, employees and doctors who were working in the Moscow detention centres where Magnitsky spent his final hours, and where he was condemned to an agonizing death without a corresponding sentence.
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The Reset: Down–but not Out
During Wall Street’s latest gyrations, Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called the United States a parasite on the global economy. In response to the U.S. Senate’s recent unanimous resolution condemning Russia’s continued post-war military presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, President Dmitry Medvedev possibly called U.S. senators senile—or maybe it was just senior citizens. Either way, you get the point. And in the most recent spat over U.S. plans for ballistic missile defense in Europe, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s Ambassador to NATO, labeled U.S. Republican Senators Jon Kyl and Mark Kirk “monsters of the Cold War.”
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U.S. and Russia: Where’s the Reset?
When President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, U.S.-Russian relations were strained and delicate. Arms control agreements had all but disintegrated and acrimonious conflict had largely displaced cooperation. Indeed several observers, including Mikhail Gorbachev, even went so far as to proclaim the emergence of a new Cold War.
Although this assessment may have been an overstatement, tensions between the two former superpowers were certainly running high, particularly during George W. Bush’s presidency. During Bush’s first term, for instance, the United States consistently worked to expand NATO to Russia’s borders, completely disregarding George H.W. Bush’s promise to Gorbachev that NATO would refrain from expanding eastward beyond a reunited Germany. With the U.S. decision to withdraw unilaterally from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty in June 2002, cooperation further deteriorated. The ABM treaty was commonly regarded as the foundation of Russia’s nuclear security. As both Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev have stated, the Kremlin felt “deceived and betrayed.”
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Charges in Magnitsky case brought against scapegoats – Hermitage Capital
The Hermitage Capital fund regards the announcement of the Russian Investigative Committee that charges were brought against a doctor of Butyrka detention facility Larisa Litvinova, and deputy chief of the facility Dmitry Kratov as clearly insufficient and indicating the restriction of the list of persons responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky.
“These are only two persons out of 60 included in the Cardin List of persons involved in the illegal arrest and persecution of Sergei Magnitsky and the large-scale embezzlement of budget funds by Interior Ministry and the tax officials he had exposed,” a statement of Hermitage Capital obtained by Interfax says.
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U.S. gets serious on Russian mega-corruption case
One of Russia’s most notorious scandals, the death in prison of hedge fund lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, is taking on an international political dimension. The United States has become the first country to impose a visa ban on Russian officials accused of complicity in the affair, which threatens to sour U.S.-Russia relations. But Russia’s conspicuous failure to investigate this crucial case means the West is right to act.
No case better illustrates the pervasive nature of Russian corruption — and the Kremlin’s woeful failure to tackle it. A lawyer for London-based Hermitage Capital, managed by the well-known investor William Browder, Magnitsky was arrested after he had accused Russian officials of involvement in a $230 million tax fraud. His subsequent death in prison naturally caused a global stink. But the subsequent cover-up was even more shocking and revealing. Russia’s inability to pursue the real culprits seems to indicate that its entire law enforcement system is rotten to the core.
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US bans Russian officials linked to Magnitsky death: report
The Washington Post has a scoop today saying that the US State Department has put Russian officials connected to the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky on a visa blacklist.
Magnitsky’s colleagues have long been pushing for the move. In May, Senator Benjamin Cardin introduced a bill that would impose sanctions on 60 officials involved in Magnitsky’s death, but, according to the Washington Post, the US State Department unilaterally adopted the move.
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Investigative Committee officer bribed to reopen Magnitsky’s case
Shortly after the first people were accused in the death of lawyer Sergey Magnitsky, there is already one more person suspected of misconduct.
Human rights activists claim that the deputy head of the Investigative Committee, Colonel Natalia Vinogradova, may have received $40,000 for reopening the case against Magnitsky, the Vedomosti newspaper reported.
Vinogradova used to be the boss of an investigator dealing with Magnitsky’s case in 2008, but it was in fact she who made all decisions regarding the lawyer.
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Magnitsky Case: Blemish on Russian-United States Relation
The Magnitsky case is at the center of the Russian-United States negotiations.
Death of the lawyer, investigating a case of large-scale tax machinations, became yet another obstacle in the relations between Moscow and Washington.
This question was discussed at top level during the visit of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Washington last week.
Vladimir Dubinsky tells more about the U.S. stance on the Magnitsky case. займ на карту микрозайм онлайн https://zp-pdl.com/get-quick-online-payday-loan-now.php https://zp-pdl.com/fast-and-easy-payday-loans-online.php unshaven girls
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Congress Needs Human Rights Assurances To Support Russia MFN Vote
There is a growing sense in Washington that members of Congress will need assurances on human rights if they are to agree to grant Russia permanent most-favored nation (MFN) status, which is necessary if U.S. companies are to fully benefit from Russia acceding to the World Trade Organization.
In a July 7 statement, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) argued that extending permanent MFN and ushering Russia into the WTO is “simply not an option” until Russia is pressed to improve its human rights record. A congressional aide said this sentiment is shared by other members of Congress.
According to an informed source, the White House opposes directly linking improvements in Russia’s human rights situation to Russia’s WTO accession, but since January has nonetheless been advancing the idea that Congress should consider separate human rights legislation this year.
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