Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Moscow uses Irish adoption threat to block use of Magnitsky list

Financial Times

Russia has threatened to block Irish adoptions of Russian children if the Dublin parliament adopts a US-style “Magnitsky List” imposing sanctions on Russian officials.

Moscow barred US citizens from adopting Russians in retaliation for the US Congress passing the Magnitsky Act last December, marking a chill in transatlantic relations. The act imposed visa bans and asset freezes on officials allegedly connected with the 2009 death in jail of the anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

The warning to Ireland, in a letter from Russia’s ambassador to the parliament’s foreign affairs and trade committee, is the first time Moscow has threatened similar action against another country.
It appears designed to head off attempts to persuade other EU states to adopt Magnitsky measures. Ireland holds the EU presidency, and a draft motion before the committee last month called on the government to use that role “to impose EU-wide visa sanctions”.

The March 11 letter from Maxim Peshkov, a career diplomat, warns that steps by Ireland towards adopting such sanctions “can have negative influence on the negotiations on the Adoption Agreement between Russia and Ireland being proceeded”.

The Russian embassy in Dublin on Thursday declined to connect calls to Mr Peshkov, saying the embassy was “closed for technical reasons”.

Bill Browder, the formerly Russian-based fund manager who employed Magnitsky and has led the campaign to bring those linked to his death to justice, said the letter was an “attack on Irish democracy”.
“Even though Ireland is a small country, the fact that they are [EU] president means they have a hugely disproportionate voice, for a fixed period,” he said. “The Irish parliamentarians have interpreted this as a threat to their adoptions.”