Posts Tagged ‘pravda’
Interview: McCain On Russia, Putin, And His Pravda.ru Op-Ed
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – NEW YORK, September 20, 2013) U.S. Senator John McCain (Republican-Arizona) has defended an opinion piece he wrote this week that was critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling Yuri Zhigalkin of RFE/RL’s Russian Service that his remarks were based on the facts about rights abuses in Russia.
RFE/RL: Senator, I had the feeling that critics and supporters of your op-ed in Pravda.ru — and this is kind of surprising — are about evenly split. Some say that McCain is basically saying what a good Russian human rights activist should say. Others say he is just an old man outside Russia who doesn’t understand a thing about Russia. Your reaction to that?
John McCain: The comments I make are based on facts — about repression, about [Sergei] Magnitsky [the whistle-blowing Russian lawyer who died in custody in 2009], about total control of the media, and the human rights abuses that continue.
RFE/RL: Why did you decide to write this article? What was your goal, what were you trying to achieve?
McCain: The truth is always an important thing, and the comments that Mr. Putin made [in his “New York Times” op-ed] about the United States of America and events here were directly contradicted by the situation in Russia, and if I ever have a chance to speak to the people of Russia, no matter how insignificant it will be, I will seize that opportunity because I am pro-Russian, and the abuses that are being heaped upon them by the Putin autocracy is, in my view, something that deserves our sympathy and our opposition.
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Senator John McCain: Russians deserve better than Putin
When Pravda.ru editor, Dmitry Sudakov, offered to publish my commentary, he referred to me as “an active anti-Russian politician for many years.” I’m sure that isn’t the first time Russians have heard me characterized as their antagonist. Since my purpose here is to dispel falsehoods used by Russia’s rulers to perpetuate their power and excuse their corruption, let me begin with that untruth. I am not anti-Russian. I am pro-Russian, more pro-Russian than the regime that misrules you today.
I make that claim because I respect your dignity and your right to self-determination. I believe you should live according to the dictates of your conscience, not your government. I believe you deserve the opportunity to improve your lives in an economy that is built to last and benefits the many, not just the powerful few. You should be governed by a rule of law that is clear, consistently and impartially enforced and just. I make that claim because I believe the Russian people, no less than Americans, are endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
A Russian citizen could not publish a testament like the one I just offered. President Putin and his associates do not believe in these values. They don’t respect your dignity or accept your authority over them. They punish dissent and imprison opponents. They rig your elections. They control your media. They harass, threaten, and banish organizations that defend your right to self-governance. To perpetuate their power they foster rampant corruption in your courts and your economy and terrorize and even assassinate journalists who try to expose their corruption.
They write laws to codify bigotry against people whose sexual orientation they condemn. They throw the members of a punk rock band in jail for the crime of being provocative and vulgar and for having the audacity to protest President Putin’s rule.
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Vanik and Magnitsky vs. Mother Russia
The Senate of the U.S. Congress is ready to adopt a bill to abolish the Jackson-Vanik Amendment by early August. However, the abolition of the amendment is linked to the adoption of the law on sanctions against Russian nationals allegedly involved in the violation of human rights. This is the so-called “Magnitsky list” authored by Senator Benjamin Cardin.
“I support this position and I guarantee that these two important draft laws (on trade with Russia and the “Magnitsky list “) can be linked together, will be discussed by the (financial) Committee and adopted by the Senate this year, possibly before the recess in August,” said on Tuesday head of the Senate Finance Committee Max Baukus. He emphasized that he intended to achieve the acceptance of such a bill as quickly as possible.
Judging by the statements made by the U.S. State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland, the U.S. administration did not object to adopting the new bill. On the one hand, there is interest in lifting Jackson-Vanik amendment. This has more reasons than its archaism. The Obama administration believes that the amendment causes obstacles for the American businessmen first of all.
Victoria Nuland made a statement in this regard. According to her, in the case of any issues American businesses will not be able to bill Russia under the WTO rules while this legislation (i.e., amendment) is in place because they would not meet the requirements.
As for the “Magnitsky list”, until recently the U.S. administration was against linking it to the abolition of the Jackson-Vanik amendment. Moreover, last year the State Department tried to be proactive, making a list of the Russians who are banned from entering the U.S. territory. However, the names were not named (as opposed to the list of Cardin). The only thing that Washington has achieved was a counter-list from Russia.
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