Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

Ministers in joint attack on Russian corruption

The Times

Three former foreign secretaries will join forces this week to condemn “corruption and impunity” in Russia ahead of the presidential election on Sunday.

David Miliband, Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind will urge the Commons to introduce travel bans and asset freezes against officials implicated in the death of a young lawyer fighting government corruption in 2009.

Mr Miliband will press the case of Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Russian prison after investigating the country’s biggest tax fraud, and make clear that he believes the episode “has rightly become a cause célèbre for what is wrong in Russia” .

In a warning shot at Vladimir Putin, days before he is expected to be returned as president, Mr Miliband will point out that “democratic spirit [in Russia is] stronger than many people thought”. The motion, put together by Dominic Raab, the Conservative MP and former Foreign Office lawyer, is backed by MPs from across the political spectrum.