(RFE/RL – rferl.org – April 19, 2013) The mother and widow of whistle-blowing Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky were in Washington on April 17, just days after the White House issued a blacklist of more than a dozen Russian officials implicated in Magnitsky’s prosecution and death in jail in 2009. RFE/RL’s Richard Solash spoke to Magnitsky’s mother, Natalia, at a reception held in the family’s honor, and started by asking her
(Moscow TImes – themoscowtimes.com – Michael Bohm – April 19, 2013) Michael Bohm is opinion page editor of The Moscow Times. You would have thought that the Kremlin would have shown a little more appreciation for the fact that U.S. President Barack Obama approved only 18 minor figures for the open portion of the Magnitsky list. After all, the original “Cardin list” included 60 Russian suspects directly tied to the
(RIA Novosti -WASHINGTON, April 17, 2013) US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday praised cooperation between the United States and Russia on a range of issues and said he is “hopeful” that the two countries can bolster bilateral ties despite disagreements over adoptions and human rights. “Even though there have been some bumps in the road, I am very hopeful that we can move this relationship back to
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – April 18, 2013) U.S. Representative James McGovern was one of the leading sponsors of legislation that mandated sanctions against Russians implicated in the prosecution and death of whistle-blowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, spoke to RFE/RL’s Richard Solash on the sidelines of a Washington reception held on April 17 honoring the Magnitsky family. RFE/RL: You have described the list as “timid.” What has the
(Russia Beyond the Headlines/Interfax – Igor Rozin, based on Interfax – rbth.ru – April 18, 2013) The Russian Investigative Committee has completed its inquiry into the murder of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Meanwhile, the defendants deny their guilt and want to be tried by jury. The Russian Investigative Committee has announced that it completed its inquiry into the assassination of Novaya Gazeta investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. “Investigators have collected
(Interfax -MOSCOW. April 16, 2013) The closed part of the list of U.S. citizens prohibited to visit Russia is longer than the open part, a source at the Russian Foreign Ministry told Interfax on Tuesday. “Concerning the Russian list, its closed part carries more names than the open one,” he said. The source said he did not know how many Russian citizens were included in the closed part of the
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Kristen Blyth – April 15, 2013) When a journalist dies in Russia, people may pay attention, but the crime usually goes unsolved. According to some observers, this may not change for a long time. When Mikhail Beketov, a journalist who was brutally attacked in 2008, died in a hospital last week, Oleg Kashin, a journalist who survived a similar attack, marveled at just how few
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – April 16, 2013) The Kremlin said the United States has sent Russia a “positive signal” by dispatching a high-profile delegation to Moscow headed by U.S. National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon, who delivered a letter Monday with “concrete measures” on missile defense, nuclear arms reduction and trade. The meeting occurred amid ongoing strains in U.S.-Russia relations marked most recently by an exchange over
(RIA Novosti – Carl Schreck – WASHINGTON, April 15, 2013) The United States and Russia struck a conciliatory chord Monday following tit-for-tat blacklists of alleged human rights violators, but the contentious US legislation that sparked the diplomatic dust-up appears set to become a permanent fixture in ties between Washington and Moscow. “There is no sunset clause on the Magnitsky Act,” a senior staffer in the US Congress told RIA
(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 12, 2013) Most of the Russian officials added on Friday to the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals List (OFAC’s SDN list) under the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 are no longer working in the positions they occupied when an investigation against Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was under way. Investigator Pavel Karpov has retired
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 12, 2013) The Kremlin was bracing for the release late Friday of a U.S. blacklist of more than 100 Russians that could include Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. At the same time, the authorities were preparing to release their own blacklist with an equal number of U.S. citizens. Washington was expected to release its blacklist at 2 p.m. (10
(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 11, 2013) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has branded the U.S. Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act as a manifestation of “the Russophobia that is traditionally present” in U.S. Congress. One of the architects of the Magnitsky act was Hermitage Capital investment fund chief executive William Browder, who “illegally hoarded a large fortune in the Russian Federation,” Lavrov told RTVi television. “The Magnitsky Act is
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yevgeny Shestakov, special to RBTH – April 9, 2013) Yevgeny Shestakov is international politics editor at Rossiyskaya Gazeta. International politics analyst Yevgeny Shestakov considers Russia and the U.S. should not resolve their differences via international conflicts like the Syria crisis. Events in civil war-torn Syria have demonstrated the lamentable inability of Russia and the West to agree on a mechanism to overcome the
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – April 8, 2013) A controversial interview with Konstantin Ernst, general director of state-owned Channel One, has caused a scandal in social networks and the media, raising questions of press freedom and journalist ethics. The interview was taken in 2008 by Yevgeny Levkovich, who was a freelance correspondent for the Russian edition of Rolling Stone magazine. He had tried to publish it for five years before
(Interfax – April 1, 2013) A former member of the government of Russia’s Kalmykia republic has confirmed during the Sergei Magnitsky tax evasion trial that the registration of the Dalnyaya Step and Saturn Investments companies in Kalmykia as investment firms involved document forgery. Magnitsky, who was an external auditor for British investment fund Hermitage Capital and died in a Moscow jail in 2009, is accused of complicity in alleged tax
MOSCOW, March 22 (RIA Novosti) – The unprecedented posthumous trial of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky for tax evasion began on Friday as investigators denied he was arrested for uncovering major corruption by state officials. This is believed to be the first time a dead person has been prosecuted in either Russian or Soviet history. Magnistky, who worked for the British-based Hermitage Capital investment fund, was 37 when he died in
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova and Ezekiel Pfeifer – March 20, 2013) Investigators said Tuesday that they had closed the case into the 2009 death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, whose name is attached to a U.S. law that has caused tension in U.S.-Russian relations by seeking to punish Russians implicated in human rights violations. An inquiry into Magnitsky’s treatment and death in a Moscow jail, where he was
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Richard Solash – March 13, 2013) WASHINGTON — A tussle is brewing in Washington over who will be included on a U.S. list of sanctioned Russian officials to be published next month. Officials with the State Department are reportedly advocating steps that would shorten the politically sensitive “Magnitsky list,” while members of Congress and NGOs who support a more sweeping list are vowing to push back.
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Robert Coalson, Richard Solash – March 11, 2013) What if $230 million went missing and no one wanted to get it back? That is the puzzling question posed by Russia’s years of unwillingness to investigate the well-documented fraud claims made by lawyer and auditor Sergei Magnitsky. At least half a dozen European Union countries, plus Switzerland, have been looking into where the so-called Magnitsky money might
MOSCOW, March 12 (RIA Novosti) A former officer of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) suspected by the British authorities of poisoning Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko said on Tuesday that he will pull out of the inquest into the killing, blaming political pressure from London. Andrei Lugovoi, who met with Litvinenko days before his death in 2006, called a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday to announce he has lost
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Richard Solash – March 11, 2013) WASHINGTON — The battle over the Sergei Magnitsky case is moving to Europe. After being lobbied by activists for nearly three years, the U.S. Congress passed legislation in late 2012 to sanction Russian officials implicated in the prosecution and death of Magnitsky, a whistle-blowing Moscow lawyer who died in pretrial detention. The case has come to symbolize Russia’s perceived rights
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – February 25, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is the politics editor of The Moscow News A story needs a beginning and end, but what has become the main narrative of Russia’s current political era doesn’t seem to have either. And the weak are meat the strong do eat, as David Mitchell coined in his novel “Cloud Atlas.” Sometime in 2005-2006, William Browder, an American
(www.opendemocracy.net – Grigory Okhotin – February 22, 2031) Grigory Okhotin is a journalist and co-founder of the grassroots police monitoring organisation OVD-Info ['police-info']. [Charts here: http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/grigory-okhotin/arrest-and-custody-russian-style] Police custody, violence, trials and imprisonment have been all to common features on the Russian protest landscape since December 2011. A grassroots monitoring project called OVD-info has kept realtime data on the arrests; co-founder Grigory Okhotin shares their findings. Right from the birth of
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – February 18, 2013) Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer was allegedly killed while in pre-trial detention in 2009, will go on posthumous trial today in what is going to be Russias most controversial case since the jailing of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The Kremlin has been outraged by the so-called Magnitsky law, passed last year, which bans Russian officials from entering the US and in theory
[excerpt] Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:01:56 -0500 From: Patrick Armstrong <gpa@magma.ca> Subject: [UTExpertsDiscGrp] RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP 20130131 RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP 31 January 2013 MAGNITSKIY. Yet another one-sided piece of re-typing has hit the West. The posthumous “trial” of Magnitskiy is being described as bizarre, Kafkaesque, absurd and so on without any background Here is some. A couple of years ago the Russian Constitutional Court ruled that, in cases where
MOSCOW, January 30 (RIA Novosti) – Russian media experts said on Wednesday the country deserves its 148th position out of 179 on the 2013 Press Freedom Index, six points down from last year. Reporters without Borders, which published the index on Tuesday, said Russia has lost points again because “since Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency, repression has been stepped up in response to an unprecedented wave of opposition protests.”
(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Henry Meyer & Ilya Arkhipov – January 28, 2013) A Moscow court opened the posthumous trial of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer for Hermitage Capital Management Ltd. who died in prison, in a case condemned by Amnesty International as “Kafkaesque.” The state is appointing lawyers for Magnitsky and Hermitage head William Browder for the next hearing, set on Feb. 18, Alexandra Berezina, a spokeswoman for the Tverskoi
(Interfax – January 28, 2013) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has described as an intentional legal mistake the adoption of the Magnitsky Act by the U.S. Congress. “I think that the whole situation is bad. It is not beneficial for either Russian-American relations or international law and order,” he said in an interview with CNN, the transcript of which is posted on the Russian government’s website. Medvedev added that the
MOSCOW, January 24 (Marc Bennetts, RIA Novosti) Prison officials in East Siberia are attempting to force a protest movement figure, charged with seeking to violently overthrow President Vladimir Putin, to implicate himself and others in the alleged plot, his lawyer told RIA Novosti on Thursday. Leonid Razvozzhayev, a leftist activist, was transferred from Moscow to a pre-trial detention center in East Siberia’s Irkutsk late last year as part of
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – January 21, 2013) Alexander Bastrykin’s Investigative Committee – which just celebrated its second birthday – is flexing its muscles in a much-touched anti-corruption crusade. But a look at its achievements in recent months suggests that while the body’s crime-fighting intentions may be sincere, Bastrykin’s caped crusaders are still far from Eliot Ness’ Untouchables. Bastrykin may indeed have emerged as President Vladimir Putin’s
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, January 17 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/01/window-on-eurasia-radical-muslims.html) Last year was a “successful” one for radical Muslims in the Russian Federation and hence “a failure for their opponents,” Roman Silantyev says. As a result, the upcoming twelve months promise to be “still more unfavorable for [Moscow's] policies in the Islamic direction” both at home and abroad. Silantyev, a much-published Islamicist and commentator and a longtime protégé
MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax) – The Russian Investigative Committee has pledged to continue the inquiry into the 1995 killing of popular journalist and TV anchor Vladislav Listyev. “It is still early to draw the line in this case. It will not be closed. The inquiry has been put on hold and the services responsible for it have been instructed to resume it as soon as any important information emerges. The
MOSCOW. Jan 14 (Interfax) – Detectives investigating the murder of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya are very close to the identification of persons who ordered the high-profile crime. The possible involvement of Boris Berezovsky and Akhmed Zakayev has not been proven so far, Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax in an exclusive interview. “I can say that the strategy and tactics of the investigation of the Anna Politkovskaya
MOSCOW. Dec 28 (Interfax) – In the future, amendments could be made to the law on measures against people responsible for human rights abuses against Russian citizens, which Russian President Vladimir Putin signed on Friday, Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov said. “The practice will show in the future whether some adjustments should be made, and if yes, we will do so,” Konovalov told Interfax on Friday. Konovalov denied that the
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – John Freedman – December 28, 2012) Some things remain relevant longer than you would expect. Take the death of Sergei Magnitsky. This muck-raking attorney was allowed to die in a Moscow prison in November 2009. That story was still making news when Teatr.doc opened a show called “One Hour Eighteen” in the early summer of 2010. The show examined the actions of several people in
(Interfax – December 26, 2012) Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov hopes that the damage done by the Magnitsky Act to Russian-U.S. relations will not be irreparable. “Hopefully, we will turn this page, the damage done to our relations will not be irreparable, and we will be able to make further progress. Although, certainly, this burden will weigh us down,” he said in an interview with the Voice of Russia
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – December 26, 2012) A prosecutor on Monday requested that the only remaining defendant in whistle-blowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky’s death be acquitted of criminal negligence. The United States recently passed a law to impose international sanctions on Russians it believes were involved in the 2009 death, but Russia has not made any conviction in the case. State Attorney Dmitry Bokov asked a Moscow
From: “Committee to Protect Journalists – ECA” <eurasia@cpj.org> Subject: CPJ: Russia still far from solving Politkovskaya murder Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2012 Committee to Protect Journalists www.cpj.org News Alert Russia still far from solving Politkovskaya murder New York, December 17, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called for a retrial of a key defendant in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. The defendant, a former senior police official, was sentenced Friday
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – Dec. 14, 2012) The dramatic affair about the death of Alexander Litvinenko resurfaced with force Thursday, when a lawyer told a London judicial hearing that an initial assessment of evidence showed that the Russian state is to blame for the mysterious poisoning of the Kremlin dissident. An examination of British government material establishes “a prima facie case in the culpability of
From: “William Dunkerley” <wd@publishinghelp.com> Subject: Moscow Times Files False Report on Litvinenko Hearing Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2012 “Russia Implicated in Litvinenko Death,” The Moscow Times, December 14, 2012 (JRL #221) appears to tell what happened at a London hearing on the suspicious death of Alexander Litvinenko. Unfortunately it paints a false picture. The story claims the hearing was told that “an initial assessment of evidence showed that the Russian
MOSCOW. Dec 16 (Interfax) – In 20 years 341 journalists have been killed in Russia, the Russian Journalists’ Union announced on Saturday. The list includes reporters killed in conflicts and counterterrorist operations, in peaceful times, reported missing and dead under uninvestigated circumstances. On December 15 the union marks the Day of Remembrance of Killed Journalists and on that day the families of killed colleagues meet at the Central Journalist House.
[Factbox: Details of U.S. bill on Russia trade, human rights - Reuters - Dec. 13, 2012 - http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/12/13/uk-usa-russia-trade-idUKBRE8BC18120121213] Reuters sets out bullet points recent U.S. legislation consider trade and Russian human rights, developed in response to Russia’s August 22, 2012, accession to the WTO. Regarding trade, the legislation repeals the Jackson-Vanik amendment and looks to ensure investment-related rule of law, Russian compliance with WTO requirements and respect for intellectual property,
[U.S.-Russia ties take a hit: As the Jackson-Vanik amendment is finally repealed, the controversial Magnitsky act provokes similar legislation from Russia and may hamper U.S.-Russia relations. - Russia Beyond the Headlines - Alexander Gasyuk - Alexander Gasyuk is Rossiyskaya Gazeta's Washington D.C. Bureau chief - Dec. 14, 2012 - http://rbth.ru/articles/2012/12/14/once_again_us-russia_ties_take_a_hit_21107.html] Russia Behind the Headlnies covers U.S. Congressional passage of the Magnitsky Act, accompanying repeal of the Jackson-Vanik amendment and normalization
MOSCOW, December 14 (RIA Novosti) – A Moscow court sentenced a former police officer to 11 years in prison on Friday for his role in the 2006 killing of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov was convicted in a separate trial from the others accused of involvement in the killing, the mastermind of which remains at liberty. Politkovskaya, a reporter with opposition-minded Novaya Gazeta newspaper, was shot dead in the
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – Dec. 13, 2012) A Moscow judge upheld a controversial plea bargain that could complicate efforts to determine who ordered the killing of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2006. Judge Alexander Zamashnyuk ruled that Politkovskaya’s two children had no right to challenge the deal, which includes a reduced sentence for the suspect, ex-cop Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, in exchange for his cooperation with the
MOSCOW, December 13 (RIA Novosti) Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted a US bill targeting alleged Russian human rights violators as an “unfriendly act,” but said Russia’s response should be “adequate and not excessive.” “We certainly have to have an appropriate response. The State Duma has taken the initiative, which in my opinion is absolutely correct. But we need to make sure the decisions we take are adequate and not
(Interfax – Dec. 11, 2012) The United Russia faction at the State Duma has proposed to name the bill retaliating against the Magnitsky Act after 18-months-old Dima Yakovlev who died after his adoptive American father left him in a locked car in a parking lot for nine hours on a hot day. “They named their act after Magnitsky and United Russia proposes to name our bill after Dima Yakovlev, a
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – Dec. 11, 2012) In a widely expected response to the passage of the U.S. Magnitsky Act, State Duma deputies on Monday introduced a bill that would make Americans suspected of mistreating Russians personae non gratae. The bill bans Americans from traveling or investing in Russia if they are deemed to have “illegally” harmed Russians, according to a draft available on the Duma’s
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Nikolaus von Twickel – Dec. 10, 2012) Buoyed by the U.S. Senate’s endorsement of the Magnitsky Act, Russian opposition leaders and some European lawmakers are calling on the European Union to adopt similar legislation that punishes presumed human rights offenders. Mikhail Kasyanov, Vladimir Ryzhkov and Boris Nemtsov, the chairmen of the “Republican Party of Russia Party of People’s Freedom,” or RPR-Parnas, on Friday urged
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – Dec. 10, 2012) Historical mistrust and relatively weak trade links could amplify the Magnitsky Act’s damage to U.S.-Russian relations, although Washington will likely use caution in applying sanctions to Russians suspected of human rights violations, analysts said. “In the absence of a solid background of trust and partnership, even relatively insignificant episodes can sour relations and leave a trace for a long
Print 
PDF