By Alexandra Sandacz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
MOSCOW, Russia – On Friday, the United States released 18 Russian official names that will experience visa and financial sanctions under the Magnitsky Act. The Act punishes individuals who are involved with human rights abuses.
The Magnitsky Act legislation required the White House to publish the list within 120 days of the enactment of the law. Therefore, US President Barack Obama’s administration was required to publish the Magnitsky List by Saturday. Obama’s administration held off on fulfilling that requirement until the final day before the deadline.
US Representative, James McGovern, submitted 280 names to the White House to publish on the Magnitsky List.
The List includes individuals, such as, Chechen President, Ramzan Kadyrov, Russian Investigative Committee head, Alexander Bastrykin, Interior Ministry investigators, Pavel Karpov and Artyom Kuznetsov, tax official, Olga Stepanova, and Yelena Stashina, the judge who Magntisky’s supporters accuse of illegally holding Magnitsky in a pretrial detention facility.
However, the List does not contain any officials who are part of Russian President, Vladimir Putin’s, inner circle.
US Representative, James McGovern, co-author of the legislation, stated the List is “an important first step toward holding egregious human rights violators accountable. While the list is timid and features more significant omissions than names, I was assured by administration officials today that the investigation is ongoing, and further additions will be made to the list as new evidence comes to light. The fact that a name is not on the list does not mean that person is innocent.”
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, believes the timing of the publication is extremely poor because of US National Security Adviser, Thomas Donilon’s, future visit. Lavrov stated Russia will react accordingly.
Lavrov stated, “In our response we will abide by the rules of parity. We will not publish anything substantially different in terms of the numbers [of names] published by the American side.”
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, spoke out to say, “The appearance of any lists will doubtless have a very negative effect on bilateral Russian-American relations. At the same time, these bilateral relations are very multifaceted, and even under the burden of such possible negative manifestations … they still have many prospects for further development and growth.”
For further information, please see:
Russian Legal Information Agency – US Releases Names of Russian Officials on Magnitsky List — 12 April 2013
Reuters – Russia Warns US on Human Rights Law, Seeks to Limit Damage – 12 April 2013
RiaNovosti – US Set to Publish Magnitsky List with Deadline Ticking – 12 April 2013
RT – US Publishes 18 Names on Magnitsky List as Moscow Warns of Response – 12 April 2013
