Posts Tagged ‘congressman’
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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Committee Markup: Russia’s WTO Accession and Granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations
Opening Statement of Ranking Member Sander Levin
Committee Markup: Russia’s WTO Accession and Granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations
(Remarks as Prepared)
Since our hearing on this issue in June action within the control of Congress has improved. Those of us who have been pressing for a bill that seeks to strengthen enforcement are pleased that our efforts came to fruition in the bipartisan outcome of the Senate Finance Committee’s markup last week.
Action within the control of Russia – most directly that related to Syria – has unfortunately not changed enough.
As we know, failing to grant PNTR does not prevent Russia from joining the WTO. They are scheduled to do so on Aug. 22 and our government has agreed to their accession agreement. Failing to act only prevents U.S. companies, workers, and farmers from gaining the benefits of Russia’s WTO membership.
There are serious outstanding trade issues we have with Russia – ranging from IPR enforcement to the rule of law. Russia’s WTO membership will help us to make progress on some of these issues. At the same time, Russia’s accession will not, by itself, fully solve these problems. We will need to continue to work actively to address these issues at every opportunity.
For example, without PNTR, if Russia would decide to massively subsidize a key industry, and those subsidies harm U.S. exporters, there is nothing we can do about it today. But with PNTR, we would be able to challenge those subsidies and either remove them or face WTO-sanctioned retaliation by the United States.
The bill before us today is much improved on enforcement. Among other things, it requires the Administration to report on Russia’s implementation of all of its WTO commitments and to describe the Administration’s plan to address any deficiencies. It establishes a new mechanism to gather and report information on bribery and corruption in Russia. And it requires the Administration to negotiate new agreements to address longstanding issues with IPR enforcement and barriers to U.S. agricultural exporters.
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“Not Even Stalin Did That”
The House Foreign Affairs Committee met yesterday on the heels of the tainted Russian election that put Vladimir Putin back in power. (He never left.)
A top observer characterized Russia’s leadership as “corrupt, rotten and rotting.” A quarter to a third of the economy is lost to corruption, it’s believed. $84 billion in capital flight last year alone.
Human rights abuses abound. The head of an investment fund told the story of Sergei Magnitsky, his Moscow lawyer. In 2008, Magnitsky uncovered evidence of police corruption and embezzlement. He was dead eleven months later – imprisoned, beaten and denied critical medical treatment. One Committee member called this testimony “one of the most powerful the Committee has ever heard.” Magnitsky’s case has become a cause célèbre in Russia, an example of the systemic corruption and abuse of power that has driven tens of thousands of protesters to Moscow’s streets recently.
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U.S. Lawmakers Want Justice For Magnitsky
Last month, Rep. James McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, introduced the “Justice for Sergei Magnitsky Act of 2011.” Two other Democrats and four Republican members co-sponsored the bill. It’s now pending before the House Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Financial Services.
Magnitsky was a lawyer in Moscow for William Browder’s Hermitage Capital Management, once the biggest foreign investor in Russia.
In 2005, the Russian government banned Browder from the country. Two years later, police and agents from the Ministry of the Interior raided Hermitage’s offices and those of its lawyers. They hauled away corporate documents and seals that were later used to defraud the Russian government out of a $230 million tax refund.
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