The adoption of the "Magnitsky list" will entail retaliatory measures.
As is known, the American senators decided to make another move in terms of relations with Russia. This move is not just to repeal the notorious Jackson-Vanik amendment that restricts trade relations between the United States and our country since the middle of the 70-s of the last century, but at the same time accept the so-called Magnitsky list, which allows freezing bank accounts of those Russians, whom the US authorities suspect of violating human rights. Obviously, in declaring the cancellation of the Jackson-Vanik amendment and the simultaneous adoption of a new restrictor for Russia, the Magnitsky Act, American lawmakers understood that Moscow would not be in debt. And it is quite possible to assume that the initiators of the new linking of trade relations and the demonstration of alleged compliance with democratic norms were deliberately provocative in order to try to provoke a response from Russia.
The desire of such a call is quite consistent with the maniacal idea of certain US senators to offend Russia by all means.
It is also obvious that the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which was adopted in due time, actually had nothing to do with the extent to which the Soviet Union prevented Jewish emigration. The whole essence of these amendments, acts and lists is to expose Russia with the next portion of claims, with the help of which it would be possible to put pressure on the authorities. After all, if we assume that the American political elites simply and without a hitch will cancel all restrictions in bilateral relations with the Russian Federation, then this, from their point of view, will cause the electorate to doubt the ability of the US authorities to keep their nose and wind grasp not to reduce. And holding the nose to the wind and a strong grip for American politicians is precisely the possible adoption of the "Magnitsky Act." According to the positions of this act, the American authorities will be able to freeze the accounts of Russian citizens in American banks, to refuse to obtain a visa to those whom they deem necessary.
By the way, as soon as the Parliament of the United States finally associates the repeal of the Jackson-Vanik amendment with the adoption of the Magnitsky list, the State Department will have to issue this very list in a short time. Today in this list, which in the USA is called Cardin's list (by the name of the senator who proposed it), there were about 60 Russians. There are scandalous surnames in this list, for example, investigator Nelli Dmitrieva, who is in a criminal case on taking bribes on a large scale (3 million dollars) in Russia. Included in the list of 11 judges, in particular, judge Alexei Krivoruchko, who works in the Tverskoy Court of the city of Moscow. In addition to the Magnitsky case, Krivoruchko is known for having upheld the verdict of Judge Borovkova in the case of disobedience of the leaders of the so-called White Ribbon opposition movement to law enforcement officers. As a result of that sentence, Alexei Navalny and Ilya Yashin received 15 days. And it is precisely this that has made it possible for US Senator Cardin to draw attention to Judge Krivoruchko. Apparently, Cardin considered that Krivoruchko had to issue an exceptionally acquittal in that case. But it is not even surprising. It is surprising that the US senators are somehow too selective about the Russian investigative and judicial systems. As soon as the case, one way or another, concerns protest movements, so gentlemen from the American parliament are right there. But if we are talking about ordinary court decisions, which often cause a much greater internal Russian response, then Cardin does not care much about it.
In this regard, we can say that the list of Magnitsky, which may soon expand significantly, thanks to the vigorous creative activity of Mrs. Clinton, is nothing more than an attempt to divide the Russians into “right” and “wrong” from an exceptionally democratic American point of view. The same Senator Cardin describes in detail the facts of corruption of each of those who are on his list. But why then doesn’t Mr. Cardin include in the list, for example, the one who was the ideologist of the predatory 90’s privatization, why there are no people in his list, who, under the banner of reforms, literally put the Russian economy and social sphere on their knees, bringing people to hopeless poverty. It turns out that non-payment of wages, pensions and social benefits in the nineties for several months is not a violation of human rights at all? ..
In fact, everything is simple: the Magnitsky list, for which Moscow is ready to offer its counter-option, is a common policy - a kind of shield, which again consider it necessary to hide behind the US authorities from Russian “aggression”. At least, among the voters, who in the United States have been teaching since tender years that Russia is a country of barbarians and savages, senators will receive the necessary support. After all, the ghostly banner of the struggle for human rights throughout the world is a powerful incentive for an ordinary American to drop a ballot paper with the correct mark in the ballot box when voting.
In this regard, it is worth asking the question: Do Americans need to respond to their “acts” and “lists”? The Kremlin considers it necessary. Someone with such a position may not agree, saying, and that we, they say, began to protect corrupt officials, whose accounts it’s time to freeze. And no one protects corrupt officials and does not think. After all, it is clear that Magnitsky’s list at any fine moment can grow from investigators and judges who “lit up” in the case of this lawyer, for example, to Russian athletes, businessmen and others who would simply be unprofitable for Americans to admit to their country. In the end, the Magnitsky Act is a simple precedent that will freeze the bank accounts of any Russian, located outside the country. Do the Americans themselves thus set about promoting the Russian ruble: keep, they say, money at home ...
Therefore, such well-known American citizens as Judge Shira Sheindlin, who sentenced Viktor Bout to 25 years of imprisonment, may well enter the return list. It would not be superfluous to bring here Senator Cardin himself, who clearly deprives a person of his list of freedom of movement and freedom to dispose of his money. Expand the list can American generals who gave orders to destroy civilians in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and Yugoslavia.
Another thing is that these citizens are unlikely to gather in Russia in the near future, and most likely they don’t have money in ruble terms in Russian banks. Therefore, it is necessary to recognize that even if the Russian parliamentarians take the initiative to adopt their “response list”, then it can hardly be called the Damocles sword that hangs over the heads of the “democratizers of the world.” This means that if we allow any answer to the “Magnitsky Act”, then it should be, as they say, asymmetric. That would be to transfer the funds of the stabilization fund from US dollars to another currency - that would be the answer. But let's say, who will do it today ...
Therefore, it remains to wait for what Russian politicians had in mind when declaring their readiness to give their answer to the US Senate’s insinuations with the Magnitsky list. We will hope that these measures will not prove to be banal retaliatory hysteria, but will force the US authorities to really think about how far their position is far from constructive.
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