The first warning

Sixty Russian officials and their closest relatives may be forever deprived of the right to enter the United States if the White House and the State Department decide to punish the Kremlin for economic crimes associated with the Hermitage Capital investment company and the “strange” death of her lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in Butyr prison.

On Monday, the co -chairman of the Helsinki Commission of the US Congress Benjamin Cardin betrayed his letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, having attached to him a list of names of sixty officials, who, in his opinion, must forever close the entry into the United States. The requirement of the commission most likely will not entail the response steps of the administration of President Obama, but it can be regarded as tightening the position of the White House in relation to the Kremlin.

At the end of June last year, Bill Brauder, Executive Director of Hermitage Capital, spoke at a meeting of the US Helsinki Commission, where he spoke in detail about the fraudulent scheme to falsify the refunds of allegedly overpaid income taxes, from which the Hermitage and the Russian budget itself suffered.

It is worth noting that before the frank attack of the Russian authorities on the company Hermitage Capital, Mr. Brighter worked calmly in Moscow and was not seen in any opposition mood. Now, as you know, he cannot enter Russia, as well as he is not able to protect his rights in Russian courts.

Hermitage lawyer Sergei Magnitsky not only revealed the crime against the company, but also agreed to testify in court. He did not have time to do this, as he was arrested and died on November 16, 2009 in prison, where he spent almost a year waiting for the court. In his letters from Butyrka, Mr. Magnitsky mentioned the torture through which he passed, and after his death, the Russian authorities forbade his relatives to conduct an autopsy.

The list of Russian officials who took a direct part in the Hermitage case and related to the death of Sergei Magnitsky included representatives of the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor's Office, Butyrsky Prison, as well as the tax authorities and judges of various levels. Their surnames, as well as the text of Mr. Cardin's appeal to Hillary Clinton, can be read on the website www.csce.gov .

The requirement of the Helsinki commission can be considered a relative victory of Mr. Brauder, who for a long time knocked on the various doors of the US Congress and the White House administration, trying to explain not only what happened to his company, but also with whom Washington really deal in Moscow.

Of course, the Brauder-Magnitsky case is unlikely to have serious chances for success, if we take into account the relative “forgetfulness” of the West, which was more than once manifested in the President of the company Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Nevertheless, the decision of the Democrat Senator Ben Cardin to remove the IC from the hut and discuss the situation around Hermitage Capital is unlikely to indicate his desire to put his teammates in the White House administration in the difficult situation. Most likely, what is happening speaks of some insight of the White House after a long period of “blindness” in relations with the Kremlin.

The latest events in Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine could also add sobriety to the White House. Although, I repeat once again, the real steps from the administration of President Obama, in response to the requirement of Senator Cardin, is not worth waiting. The Administration of President Obama is connected by hope for the new sanctions against Iran, which should go through the UN Security Council, where the White House needs support for the Kremlin.

In addition, do not forget that the current administration in Washington, as well as the previous one, has all the possibilities to apply the same measures against Russian officials who actually expropriating the company Yukos and illegally planting it, as well as against those officials who are suspected of transferring sensitive nuclear technologies to Iran.

True, in this case, Washington will be forced to lead all negotiations with Moscow either by telephone, or in neutral territory, or in Russia. Since there are practically no those who can enter the United States without legal consequences in the Kremlin.

Washington