The United States has stated that the Magnitsky list may be canceled in the future, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov doubts this, citing the fate of the Jackson-Vanik amendment as an example, RIA Novosti reported .

On Monday, Lavrov spoke during a press conference in Moscow about a television program that he watched the other day, and in which American Senator James McGovern, who is one of the toughest supporters of Washington’s acceptance of the “Magnitsky list” and generally escalating relations between Russia and the United States. And with this the senator answered the question whether this list would not become an eternal irritant, taking into account the open-ended nature of the relevant law and the need to annually update the corresponding list of names, without hesitation, he noted that it would not. “Now, the Russians will fulfill everything that we demand of them, and we will cancel this list and law,” Lavrov quoted McGovern as saying. And he immediately recalled what happened with the forerunner of the “Magnitsky law” - the Jackson-Vanik amendment.

According to him, the problem that underlay this amendment was removed back in 1992, but the amendment itself, despite the fact that all the conditions that were necessary for its removal were met, was in effect for almost 20 years.

In December 2012, US President Barack Obama signed the Magnitsky Act, which imposes visa and financial sanctions on Russians who, according to American authorities, are involved in the death in pre-trial detention of Hermitage Capital fund auditor Sergei Magnitsky and human rights violations in Russia. At the same time, the United States repealed the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, introduced against the USSR in 1974 due to difficulties with the emigration of Jews to Israel and limiting trade relations between the two countries.

The US Treasury Department on Friday published the “Magnitsky list,” which included 18 Russian officials and officials who, according to Washington, were involved in the death in pre-trial detention of Hermitage Capital fund auditor Sergei Magnitsky and human rights violations in Russia. Visa and economic sanctions are imposed on these individuals.

In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday published Moscow's response - a list of 18 American officials who are prohibited from entering Russia. It included individuals who, according to Moscow, were involved in torture in the special prison at Guantanamo Bay, as well as those involved in violations of the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens abroad.

The US may cancel the “Magnitsky list”