Posts Tagged ‘EU’

31
May 2011

Murder case puts pressure on EU-Russia diplomacy

EU Observer

EU diplomacy should be guided by basic moral imperatives and open parliamentary politics, not behind-closed-doors strategising, a prominent campaigner has said.

Bill Browder, a US-born British venture capitalist who a few years ago was the biggest foreign investor on the Russian stock market, is targeting the European Parliament and national EU assemblies to make the European Council impose sanctions on Russian officials.

Browder has put together a list of 60 people in the Russian interior ministry, justice system and the secret police, the FSB, who he says tortured and murdered his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, after he exposed their multi-million-euro tax scam.

On Monday (30 May), the Russian general prosecutor in a statement said one of the top men on the list, Oleg Silchenko, committed “no violations of federal law”, in what Browder’s side called an ongoing “whitewash” that “damages the credibility” of the Russian government.

Browder, who has published hard evidence of how the Russian officials scammed the Russian taxpayer, wants the EU to impose an asset freeze and travel ban on the men and women involved.

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05
May 2011

The European Union – Russian Federation human rights

EU Press Release

On 4 May 2011, the European Union and the Russian Federation held their thirteenth round of human rights consultations in Brussels. The consultations were held in an open and constructive atmosphere. The EU and Russia focussed in particular on the rule of law and the working of civil society as well as cooperation in international fora and the fight against discrimination. The EU and Russia also discussed the rights of the child.

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12
April 2011

Some EU countries ready to impose sanctions on Russian officials who could be involved in Magnitsky case

Interfax

Some EU countries are considering introducing sanctions on Russian officials who could be responsible for the death of Hermitage Foundation lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

“The foreign ministers of some EU countries are ready to take practical measures and decisions in this area,” European Parliamentarian Heidi Hautala told a press conference at the Interfax central office on Monday.

The statement on the possible sanctions made in the European parliament became a powerful signal to the entire EU to take decisive measures, she said.

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04
April 2011

The world has changed

EU Russia Centre

Events in North Africa have led to an upheaval in region’s seemingly stable condition. Until recently the internal problems of these countries had hardly attracted attention while externally they have served as more or less dependable partners of the USA and the European Union. Over the past few months the situation has changed dramatically. Thanks to the Libyan crisis the EU has faced a drop in oil supplies. The catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan, meanwhile, has put paid to the already weak conviction that nuclear power could be safe within the EU. On top of this has come a sharp increase in the number of refugees fleeing the North African disturbances which only highlights the lack of an effective strategy within Europe for integrating those who arrived before.

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25
February 2011

Barroso-Putin tete-a-tete: three victims named

EU Observer

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso named three prominent victims of the Russian regime in a private conversation with the Russian leader in Brussels on Thursday (24 February).

Barroso spokesman Michael Karnitschnig said his boss called for “progress” on the cases of Sergei Magnitsky, Anna Politkovskaya and Mikhail Khodorkovsky during a tete-a-tete with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin which lasted at least 30 minutes and during which only the two men and their interpreters were in the room.

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04
February 2011

Official Not Worried About EU Visa Ban

The Moscow Times

A senior Russian investigative official said he would not care if the European Union banned him from entry over the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

“I don’t have any immediate plans to go abroad,” Alexei Anichin, head of the Interior Ministry’s Investigative Committee, told reporters in Moscow on Thursday. “But if I do go and they don’t let me in, it won’t be a big tragedy for me.”

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04
January 2011

On Human Rights in the World and the EU’s Policy on the Matter

New Europe

Human rights serve as the guiding principle in the European Union’s (EU’s) external action. Hardly are there other state-actors in the world that would place such an emphasis on the spread and protection of human rights abroad.

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22
December 2010

Sergei Magnitsky: European Parliament recommends tough sanctions on Russian officials

The Daily Telegraph

The European Parliament has recommended hard-hitting sanctions be taken against 60 Russian officials accused of involvement or dereliction of duty in the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. In a vote that caused friction with Moscow, the parliament backed a resolution that opens the door for EU member states, including Britain, to introduce a visa ban and freeze the bank accounts of the officials.

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22
December 2010

EU Backs Sanctions Against Officials

The St Petersburg Times

The European Parliament urged EU governments Thursday to freeze the assets of Russian officials involved in the prison death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, and pressed the Russian government to do more to punish those who commit crimes against Kremlin critics.

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