Posts Tagged ‘US’
Plain Speaking From Biden in Moscow Speech
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who two years ago introduced the idea of a thaw between the United States and Russia, used a speech at Moscow State University to criticize Russia’s legal and political systems, a move likely to irritate the country’s leaders.
Russians, he said, “want to be able to choose their national and local leaders in competitive elections. They want to be able to assemble freely, and they want the media to be independent of the state. And they want to live in a country that fights corruption.
“That’s democracy,” he said. “I urge all you students here: Don’t compromise on the basic elements of democracy. You need not make that Faustian bargain.”
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Biden Decries Russian Corruption During Visit
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told a university audience here Thursday that “only bold and genuine change” on corruption, the rule of law and democracy in Russia will guarantee improved economic relations between the former Cold War superpowers.
Speaking at Moscow State University on a weeklong European swing, he addressed what he called impediments to business investment, citing the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who was arrested and died in custody in 2009 after accusing the police of corruption; demonstrators who were beaten and detained last year while advocating for the right to peacefully assemble; and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Russian oligarch whose second trial on new charges of embezzlement and money laundering was clouded with allegations of misconduct.
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Biden touts US-Russian trade in Moscow speech
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has told a Moscow audience that Washington supports Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization because it will lead to greater trade between the two countries.
Speaking at Moscow State University, Biden said “it’s better for America and I believe better for Russia to be able to trade with each other under predictable and transparent rules.”
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Magnitsky Deserves Justice
VOA News.com
This month marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died from apparent medical neglect after 12 months in pre-trial detention.
In 2008, Mr. Magnitsky implicated Russian officials in what he called a massive scheme to defraud the government of $230 million. Authorities arrested Mr. Magnitsky and accused him and his client, Hermitage Capital, of evading taxes. According to Mr. Magnitsky, investigators and prison officials pressured him to withdraw his complaint and testify against Hermitage Capital. He refused to cooperate and was subsequently transferred from one Moscow prison to another with worse conditions. After being denied medical attention for pancreatic problems and enduring what human rights activists have described as torturous conditions for almost a year, Sergei Magnitsky died November 16th, 2009.
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