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It is not time to normalize trade relations with Russia

Deseret News

The Obama administration should “go slow” on normalizing trade relations with Russia until Moscow shows it’s serious about curbing human rights abuses.

A key part of “normalization” is extending Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status to Russia. This has been denied since 1974, when passage of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment barred the U.S. from granting that status to any country that restricts emigration.

Designed primarily to free Soviet Jews and other minorities from state repression, the amendment is largely non-responsive to conditions in post-Soviet Russia.

That’s why every American president, with the exception of Ronald Reagan, has routinely granted Moscow a waiver from the amendment since the collapse of the Soviet empire.

But that’s not to say that today’s Russia boasts a stellar human rights record. Indeed, basic rights, including the right to own property, are attacked persistently and systematically.