Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

U.S. shouldn’t overrate Russian gamesmanship

The Blade

Beware of Russians bearing gifts.
But not too much.

Disguised as a goodwill gesture, Russia’s plan to restart nuclear talks with Iran is in fact a tit-for-tat ploy. It is designed to annoy the United States for imposing visa restrictions last month on Russian officials implicated in the death of a lawyer who had unearthed evidence of massive corruption perpetrated by the regime of Russian Prime Minster Vladimir Putin, who previously served as president.

The plan is Russia’s barely veiled threat to drop its reluctant support of international sanctions imposed on Iran for its apparent efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

It is not the first time Russia has tried to spite Washington in the wake of the visa restrictions imposed after a lawyer for Hermitage Capital Management, once the largest foreign investor in Russia, died in police custody on trumped-up charges of tax avoidance. In fact, he was arrested for alleging a $230 million state-orchestrated fraud.