The European Parliament proposed an exchange

On June 13, the European Parliament adopted an urgent resolution on the legal situation in Russia. The deputies expressed concern over the Bolotnaya case and the criminal prosecution of Alexei Navalny. European parliamentarians recommended that the Council of the EU and the European Commission impose visa restrictions on those who were involved in the death of Sergei Magnitsky. On the same day, Boris Nemtsov spoke in the US Congress about the Magnitsky Act.

The European Parliament adopted a very important resolution on political repressions in Russia and violations of human rights. Compared to the previous resolution, there is an innovation there: the European Parliament announced that it is ready to cancel visas for Putin's officials if the "Magnitsky list" is adopted in Europe. Since the European Parliament has the authority to ratify the agreement on the abolition of visas, this resolution looks very serious.

In the United States in April, a very short list of 18 unimportant surnames was published. The secret lists, according to The New York Times, include Kadyrov's name, and that's not bad. But this list is clearly incomplete; it does not include those citizens who are responsible for the repressions and falsifications, such as Bastrykin and Churov. According to the Magnitsky Act, this list should be replenished every year in mid-December. But the Obama administration is afraid of Putin. But senators and congressmen are not very afraid - this became clear from the hearings that took place on June 13 in the Committee on Foreign Affairs. They believe that the Magnitsky Act is largely sabotaged by the administration, and Obama and Putin are acting in tandem. They have different tasks: Putin needs to cover up his crooks, thieves and murderers, while Obama needs resolutions on Iran, Syria, and so on. But one way or another, they act together, and the law, to put it mildly, does not work. Senators understand this, they are concerned about how to change it. I do not rule out that they will turn to the White House with a question why those who organize political repressions in Russia were not included in the list.

Now the situation is changing: in America they knew little about the Bolotnaya case, now they know more about 28 political prisoners, about the criminal cases against Navalny. The understanding that there are already more repressions in Russia than in Belarus has come. And this means that those who actually carry out these repressions can get into the “Magnitsky list”.