A tombstone on the grave of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in jail, at a cemetery in Moscow. A new law blacklists Russians connected to the death of Magnitsky in police custody.(Misha Japaridze/AP)
MOSCOW — The U.S. Senate on Thursday repealed a trade sanction imposed 38 years ago to force the Soviet Union to allow Jews and other religious minorities to emigrate, replacing it with a modern-day punishment for human rights abuse that has enraged Russian officials.
The old law, one of the last vestiges of the Cold War, was called the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, named after a U.S. senator and a representative. The new law, passed 92 to 4, grants Russia and Moldova permanent normal trade relations, but it is coupled with the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which honors a dead Russian. The law blacklists Russians connected to the death of Magnitsky in police custody and to other gross human rights violations, prohibiting entrance to the United States and use of its banking system.
“Today, we close a chapter in U.S. history,” Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), one of the prime movers of the Magnitsky bill, said during the debate on Jackson-Vanik. “It served its purpose. Today, we open a new chapter in U.S. leadership for human rights.”
How the United States can best promote democracy and human rights in Russia — and elsewhere — became a matter of agonizing and often bitter debate as pressure grew to repeal Jackson-Vanik. Not only was it widely considered a relic with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and freedom to emigrate from Russia, but, under the regulations of the World Trade Organization, which Russia joined this year, it also penalized American exporters.
The House approved the measure last month. President Obama said he looked forward to signing the law because of the WTO benefits for American workers, although originally the administration had argued that the Magnitsky bill was unnecessary because the president could — and would — create the desired blacklist by executive order.
Vladimir Putin in a class photo dated 1966. Putin, an only son, was born in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, to a factory foreman and his wife on Oct. 7, 1952. (Laski Diffusion-Newsmakers)Putin dances with a girl named Elena at a secondary school in 1969. Putin entered Leningrad State University's law department in 1970 and graduated in 1975. (AFP)Putin, bottom, performs in a training fight with fellow pupil Vassily Shestakov at a judo class in a St. Petersburg sports school, 1971. Putin remains an accomplished judo practitioner. (AFP)The house in Dresden, Germany, where Putin's KGB unit was based sits across the street from the headquarters of the former East German secret police, the Stasi. Putin spent 17 years as a mid-level agent in the Soviet KGB's foreign intelligence wing, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. (David Hoffman/The Washington Post)Putin, right, then St. Petersburg deputy mayor, stands near Anatoly Sobchak, then the city's mayor, in the summer of 1994. After serving in the KGB, Putin became an aide to the mayor of Russia's second-largest city. (Dmitry Lovetsky/AP)Retiring Russian President Boris Yeltsin, right, shakes hands with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as Yeltsin leaves office, Dec. 31, 1999. Under the Russian constitution, Putin served as acting president until he was formally elected three months later. (AFP/Getty Images)Russian women brave frost and snow to sell cigarettes on a street in downtown Moscow, Feb. 24, 2000. Russia's economic problems posed a major test for Putin's presidency, as the economy transitioned from the Soviet command system to a free market. (Mikhail Metzel/AP)A worker refuels a car at one of the Slavneft oil company gas stations in Moscow, Dec. 18, 2002. Largely on the strength of its oil industry, Russia's economy rebounded under Putin's watch, raising incomes and allowing the government to pay off its foreign debt. (Alexander Merkushev/AP)Putin speaks to the media near a polling station in Moscow, March 26, 2000. After becoming president, Putin immediately set about restoring a degree of order after a decade of economic and political upheaval that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. (POOL/AP)A Russian soldier jumps from a tank in the Chechen capital of Grozny, Feb. 28, 2000. In 1994, President Boris Yeltsin sent troops into Chechnya to try to quell a separatist drive, leaving tens of thousands dead in 21 months. The so-called second Chechen war broke out in 1999. (AFP)A woman stands with her belongings among the ruins of Grozny in the breakaway republic of Chechnya, Feb. 23, 2000. Yeltsin appointed Putin prime minister in August 1999, as fighting erupted in northern Chechnya. Other nations and human rights groups protested the brutal tactics employed by Russian troops in Chechnya. (AFP)Representatives of the NTV creative team are interviewed after a meeting wth President Vladimir Putin, Jan. 29, 2001. In April 2001, state-controlled energy company Gazprom took over Russia's sole major independent television network, dispatching security forces to seize NTV headquarters. (Pavel Smertin/Kommersant)Voters read their ballots at a polling station in Moscow, Dec. 7, 2003. Russians cast votes in parliamentary elections that tested the Kremlin's ability to strengthen its dominance of the legislature and gave President Vladimir Putin more influence in shaping the country. (Sergei Grits/AP)A Russian soldier fires at Chechen fighter positions near the village of Chervlyonaya in Chechnya, Oct. 16, 1999. The second Chechen war broke out after terrorist bombings in Moscow were blamed on Chechen separatists. (Dima Korotayev/Reuters)Russian security forces cordon off the House of Culture for the State Ball-Bearing Factory in southeast Moscow, Oct. 26, 2002. Three days earlier, Chechen separatists had seized the theater and hundreds of hostages. (Valery Melnikov/Kommersant)An Interior Ministry rescue worker carries a body out of the Moscow theater where hundreds of hostages were held by Chechen rebels. More than 90 hostages and 50 Chechen guerrillas died when Russian special forces pumped gas into the theater and stormed the building in a dramatic pre-dawn raid on Oct. 26, 2002, that freed about 700 captives but left most of them hospitalized. (Dmitry Lovetsky/AP)A man carries a boy during a rescue operation in the town of Beslan, North Ossetia, Sept. 3, 2004. More than 300 children, parents and teachers died in the bloody culmination of a 52-hour siege that began when heavily armed Chechen guerrillas stormed Beslan's School No. 1 and ended in an hours-long battle with Russian troops. (Yuri Tutov/AFP/Getty Images)A man carries a schoolgirl rescued from the Beslan school captured by Chechen separatists, Sept. 3, 2004. There had been more than 1,000 hostages inside the school, the majority of them children. (Valery Melnikov/Kommersant)Mourners visit the gymnasium of the destroyed school in Beslan, Sept. 10, 2004. One week after the Beslan school hostage siege ended in tragedy, relatives were still searching for missing relatives and for answers about how hundreds died in an assault by security forces. (Maxim Marmur/AFP)Putin and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, right, review an honor guard during a ceremony prior to their talks in Minsk, Belarus, Dec. 14, 2007. The talks focused on efforts to strengthen ties between the two former Soviet neighbors. Lukashenko, a dictator in practical terms, is a strong Kremlin ally. (Ivan Sekretarev/AP)Putin carries a hunting rifle in the mountainous southern Siberian region of Tuva, Aug. 15, 2007. (Dmitry Astakhov/AFP/Getty Images)President George W. Bush, right, applauds as Putin catches a striped bass, July 2, 2007, while fishing near the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Putin was the first world leader invited by Bush to stay with him at Walker's Point during a visit intended to cool tensions in U.S.-Russian relations. (AFP/Getty Images)Putin talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and other leaders of the Group of Eight countries during a meeting of the 2007 G-8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, June 7, 2007. Under Putin, Russia has gone from economic crisis to wealthy powerhouse. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters)President Bush and Putin embrace at the end of a joint news conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 15, 2006. Putin hosted President Bush and other leaders of the industrial world at the 2006 G-8 summit. High prices for oil and other natural resources have fueled Russia's economic rebound. (Jim Bourg/Reuters)Putin looks at a demonstration of flights during the MAKS-2005 International air and space show, Aug. 16, 2005, in the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow. Putin's government has invested budget surpluses in rebuilding the country's armed forces. (MLladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images)Putin, right, and Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov visit the Plesetsk cosmodrome to watch a Molniya rocket launch, Feb. 17, 2004, in the Arkhangelsk region. (Ilya Pitalev/Kommersant)Alexander Litvinenko lies in a hospital bed in London, Nov. 20, 2006. Litvinenko died on Nov. 23, 2006, three weeks after he was poisoned in what friends said was a plot orchestrated by the Kremlin. (REUTERS)Putin, left, talks with young skiers at the cafe of a newly opened alpine ski center that will be used in the 2014 Olympics at Krasnaya Polyana in the southern Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, Jan. 2, 2008. (Dmitry Astakhov/AP)Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, enter a Moscow polling station, Dec. 2, 2007, to cast their votes in Russia's parliamentary elections. The elections gave Putin's party a strong majority. (DMITRY ASTAKHOV/AFP/Getty Images)About 5,000 members of the pro-Kremlin Nashi movement carry Russian flags and wear cloaks with the portrait of Putin and the words: 'Our Victory', as they rally in Moscow's Red Square, Dec. 3, 2007, to celebrate the victory of Putin's party in the parliamentary election. (MISHA JAPARIDZE/AP)A woman exits a voting booth at a polling station in Stavropol, Dec. 2, 2007. During Putin's eight years in office, opposition parties have been largely sidelined as his government established control over key elements of the news media and moved to centralize power. (Danil Semyonov/AFP/Getty Images)Putin delivers a speech during a forum with supporters in Moscow, Nov. 21, 2007. In the Dec. 2, 2007, parliamentary vote, the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, whose ticket was headed by Putin, won more than 60 percent of the vote. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images)Putin walks with his First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, June 8, 2006. Putin expressed support for Medvedev as his successor, Dec. 10, 2007, a move likely to ensure Medvedev's election. One day later, Medvedev said he wanted Putin to remain in government as prime minister. (Dmitry Astakhov/AP)Putin watches a martial arts tournament in the Luzhniki sports center in Moscow, Nov. 30, 2007. Putin's popularity, coupled with a likely post as prime minister in 2008, would invest him with tremendous political strength. (Dmitry Astakhov/AFP/Getty Images)Medvedev and Putin stroll at the Zavidovo presidential residence in Russia's Tver Oblast. Medvedev announced that he would step aside to allow Putin to run again for his old job of president in the 2012 elections. (VLADIMIR RODIONOV/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)Putin, left, and Medvedev at a congress of the ruling United Russia party in Moscow. (YEKATERINA SHTUKINA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Photo Gallery: Politics and Power: Putin's Ascent in Russia
“My administration will continue to work with Congress and our partners to support those seeking a free and democratic future for Russia and promote the rule of law and respect for human rights around the world,” Obama said in a statement.
“We need the Magnitsky act to fill the gaps in President Obama’s policy,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), criticizing Obama for what he called unseemly efforts to avoid offending Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia, as expected, was infuriated. Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, Moscow’s special representative on human rights and democracy predicted a tough response, Interfax reported.
“We regard it as unjust and unfounded,” Konstantin Dolgov said. “This is an attempt to interfere in our internal affairs.”
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz) said the bill should have applied to all countries. The House, however, had already passed the Russia-centric bill, and the Senate decided to go along.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said, though, that the United States intends to pay attention to human rights everywhere.
“We will stand up for those who dare to speak out against corruption,” she said. “This bill is for all the Magnitskys around the world.”
Cardin, chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, has been pushing for a Magnitsky law since 2010, when most of his colleagues stumbled over pronouncing the Russian name. Debating the bill Wednesday, senator after senator recounted Magnitsky’s life story, his name rolling familiarly off their tongues.
Magnitsky was working for an American law firm in Moscow, advising Hermitage Capital on tax issues, when he discovered a $230 million tax fraud being carried out by Russian police and tax officials using documents stolen from the investment company, run by the American-born William F. Browder.
When Magnitsky accused officials, they arrested him. Magnitsky died in pretrial custody in November 2009 after nearly a year in jail. Despite evidence that he had been beaten and tortured, no one has been punished, and Magnitsky is being prosecuted posthumously.
Browder first testified to the Helsinki Commission about Magnitsky’s imprisonment several months before the Russian’s death. On Thursday, he said he hoped the Senate action would encourage passage of a similar law in Canada and Europe.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the United States had a moral obligation to speak out for Magnitsky, as well as others who are still alive and languishing unjustly in Russian prisons.
“I continue to worry about them,” McCain said, “and I pray for them.”
Will Englund is a veteran Moscow correspondent and currently an editor on The Post's foreign desk. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize, he is the author of “March 1917: On the Brink of War and Revolution.”
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