How will Russia respond to Magnitsky law?

Head of the Duma Committee on International Affairs Alexei Pushkov considers the probability of the adaptation of the so-called "Magnitsky law" very high. The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations unanimously approved a draft of this law.

The bill provides for a ban on entry into the United States and seizure of assets of Russian officials who, according to Washington, were involved in the death in jail of lawyer Magnitsky.

Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives at U.S. Congress also approved the bill earlier.

"There is a need for it (the bill) in order to satisfy the anti-Russian reflex of the U.S. Senate and much of the (House of Representatives) Congress, because it is already clear that the Congress will repeal the so-called Jackson-Vanik amendment that limited the volume of trade and economic cooperation with Russia," said Alexei Pushkov to "Pravda.Ru."

According to him, the Congress cannot but appeal the amendment, because "if it is not done, it will deliver a blow to the interests of American companies that will have more limited access to the Russian market than ever before after Russia's WTO accession."

"The United States will benefit from lifting Jackson-Vanik amendment. But as a compensation, anti-Russian lawmakers need to adopt the "Magnitsky law," aimed primarily at ensuring complicated relations with Russia at the political level. That is, the Americans are removing the anti-Russian economic amendment and adopting an anti-Russian policy law," said head of the Duma Committee on International Affairs.

He believes that the Obama administration "seems to be unable to block the adoption of the law and may not want confrontation on this issue with Congress." "That's why the Obama administration is unlikely to prevent the adoption of this law," said Pushkov.

He believes that the implications of the law will be negative. "Russia has already warned that it will answer with a similar action. That is, Russia will draw up a list of American officials or people who have worked before in the state system of the United States, suspected of massive violations of human rights, and these people will be stripped of their right of entry to Russia", said Pushkov.

"In addition, it is possible that this will have a negative impact on the ability of U.S. businesses in Russia. It is clear that after the adoption of such amendment Russian leadership would treat projects with the participation of U.S. companies in a reserved manner and will probably look for other partners," he said.

"In my opinion, the adoption of this law is not beneficial either to the United States or Russia, because the law is clearly against the sovereignty of the Russian Federation. We treat this very seriously. No one will benefit from it ", concluded head of State Duma Committee on International affairs.

Oleg Artyukov

Pravda.Ru

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Author`s name Dmitry Sudakov
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