Posts Tagged ‘chris smith’
Russia denies visa for leading congressional human-rights advocate
The Russian government has denied a visa for a prominent congressman in what that the lawmaker believes is clear retaliation for U.S. efforts to punish Russian human rights violators.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on human rights, has been traveling to Russia and before that the Soviet Union for decades. But this month, the Russian government denied him a visa for the first time, despite a personal intervention from the U.S. ambassador in Moscow.
In an interview Wednesday with The Cable, Smith said the Russians were already retaliating for a recent U.S. law that seeks to call out and punish Russian human rights violators. That bill, the Sergei Magnitsky Accountability and Rule of Law Act of 2012, was named after the Russian anti-corruption lawyer who died in prison, allegedly after being tortured by Russian officials.
Smith was an original sponsor of the bill.
“The Magnitsky bill is the reason I didn’t get the visa. This is the first time,” Smith said. “I was shocked. During the worst days of the Soviet Union I went there repeatedly.”
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Magnitsky Act sponsor is denied Russian visa
Despite having traveled to Russia before and intervention of the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Congressman Chris Smith was denied a Russian visa.
U.S. Congressman Chris Smith (Republican-New Jersey), chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs subcommittee on human rights, has been denied a Russian visa.
According to Smith, he had previously traveled to the Soviet Union and Russia, but in February 2013 he was denied a visa, despite intervention by U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul. The congressman said that no reason has been given; however, Russian Ambassador to the US Sergei Kislyak reportedly said that the decision had been made in Moscow, not at the Russian Embassy in Washington.
Smith believes the refusal was retaliation for the passing of the Magnitsky Act. Nevertheless, the congressman plans to reapply for a visa. He said he had previously been denied visas to China, Cuba and Belarus. He had planned to travel to Russia to discuss the Dima Yakovlev Law, which bans Americans from adopting Russian children and was passed partially in response to the Magnitsky Act. Smith said he shared the legitimate concerns of the Russian officials and had prepared a resolution highlighting the death of 19 Russian children adopted by American parents.
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