"Calling the names, we betray them shame"

“We need to be very attentive to not pointing a finger and reading notations. To some extent we need to look closely, something can do better,” Senator John Kerry, head of the US Senate Committee, began diplomatically. “Nevertheless, human rights are part of our DNA. We have always been a nation that fights for human rights.”

The Committee under the leadership of Kerry began discussing the "Magnitsky Law" after the International Committee of the House of Representatives already approved on June 7 a parallel version of the bill on visa sanctions against officials accused of violations of human rights. “We want Sergei Magnitsky, a young Russian lawyer who fought with corruption and who tortured and killed the jailers, leave a legacy. So that those who are responsible for violations of human rights in other countries have no privilege to visit this country and use our banking system and have property in the United States,” said the initiator of the bill, Senator Ben Cardin. He explained that the main goal of the law is to force other countries to independently hold the perpetrators in violations of human rights.

The head of the committee expressed concern about the intention of legislators to introduce a secret application with a list of specific Russian officials to the "Magnitsky Law". "Does this not at risk of secret information, without bringing significant benefit in the context of the purpose of the law?" - Kerry asked, adding that judging by the recent leaks of confidential information in the press, the list may not remain confidential for long.

Cardin retorted that the ideal option is an open publication of the list: "Calling the names, we betray them to disgrace."

Senator Ben Cardin.

At the same time, the US State Department expressed concern that an open list could adversely affect the interests of national security, and so the idea of ​​a closed list of Russian officials and law enforcement officials involved in the death of Sergei Magnitsky appeared. As a result, the Committee unanimously approved the "Magnitsky Law", promising to work on the details before it is taken to vote of the full composition of the Senate.

Hermitage Capital President Bill Brower.

In general, the tone of the discussion of the Magnitsky Law in the International Committee of the Senate was extremely restrained and diplomatic and sharply contrasted with the statements of the Republican Senator John McCain, who in 2008 fought with Barack Obama for the US presidential chair. Just a few hours before the meeting of the Senate International Committee, not far from the Capitol at the Hayat Hotel, a demonstration of a short documentary about Magnitsky Files took place. One of the organizers of the show was John McCain.

An influential Republican made a sharp criticism of the statements of representatives of the Kremlin on the fact that the law is anti -Russian. "This law is just pro -Russian, because I believe that Russian people will agree with us that corrupt officials should be punished for their crimes, and not hide money in our banks and go on vacation," McCain said.

The senator is convinced that the history of Magnitsky should serve as the motivation "for all of us" and become an concern for every American. " “His work attracted attention to the relations of Russian officials with a dangerous international criminal group Klyuyev,” he continued, recalling that officials are accused of “fraud, embezzlement, as well as a series of murders”. “As I understand it, heart failure is becoming an increasingly serious problem in today's Russia,” the senator said. “In addition, we are talking about laundering money using the same mechanisms that use drug smuggling and smugglers of weapons from Iran and North Korea. The information that Sergei discovered, suggests that the US financial system could be compromised and used by this criminal organization,” John Macakene was indignant.

Senator John McCain and Bill Brover.

The senator also gave extremely negative forecasts for the development of relations between the United States and Russia. “Vladimir Putin secured a rule for at least 12 years,” he said. “The Russian people will decide differently, in other ways. I wondered if he would cooperate with the West or take a more stringent position. In his statements about the missile defense system, he gave a clear answer to these questions. He continued with the blocking of resolutions about Syria (in the UN Security Council). One of the Russian military military military people. If the United States continues to create a missile defense, this will lead to an armed conflict.

Further, McCain, quite in the spirit of the statements of the times of the summer of 2008, when he sharply criticized the war with Georgia, said that "we must understand who is at the top of the reign in Russia." "Many of them are the former ranks in the KGB, these people are ready to lie directly in the face, for example, about the supply of weapons to the Syrian regime. There will be no new Cold War between countries, but because of the essence of the current Russian regime, relations between countries will be difficult. We can only cope with this-we only need to look at things realistically, and the Obama administration began the rejection that George Bush did absolutely everything incorrectly. They are now beginning to understand the reality of Russia - and what can I say, the “rebooting” is clearly not working, ”concluded an influential Republican.

2 years have passed since the death of a lawyer. Circumstances and involved in his death are known, but none of them suffered punishment. Publicpost dossier: History of the issue, development of events. >>>