This document, first approved by the US Senate and House of Representatives, was recently signed by the President of America. It contains sixty names of Russian officials, each of which is somehow connected with the court case concerning the Hermitage Capital Management fund. These people were banned from entering the United States, in addition, they were deprived of property rights in different countries of the world, and their personal bank accounts were frozen.
Strict measures were the response of the world community to the trial in the case, the main defendant of which was lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. He was convicted of tax fraud in 2008 and died under strange circumstances in 2009 in a Moscow pre-trial detention center.
The case contains documents relating to the financial frauds of the Hermitage Capital Management fund, from which it becomes known about shell companies and 5 billion rubles stolen from the state budget. Foreign human rights defenders did not ignore such a high-profile trial. As a result of disagreement with the Russian justice system and human rights violations, the Magnitsky List was created containing the names of major officials, their positions and the charges against them.
America and the European Union, which supported this document, promised that the list would be replenished with the names of Russians who would continue to violate the rights of people fighting for the purity of justice, freedom of speech, as well as major offenders. According to Western countries, only by restricting the right to freedom of movement of these citizens can stop corruption, uphold the rights of honest citizens, and stop illegal legal prosecution. At the same time, foreigners are not very worried about how Russia will react to these measures and whether it will be regarded as interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state with imposing its will on it.
As happens in such situations, the Russian side has taken retaliatory steps. One of them is the bill on visa and economic sanctions established in relation to the violation of the rights of Russian citizens in the United States. Another reciprocal was the ban on the adoption of Russian orphans by American citizens.
What the United States will answer all this can only guess. It is likely that these are the first symptoms of the beginning of a new cold war. The West now has a button of pressure on the legislative elite of the Russian state. But the Russian elite has to more carefully choose which banks to keep their savings in and in which foreign countries to buy real estate.
How justified by the US is the adoption of the Magnitsky List? As always, the truth is somewhere in between. Of course, the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in jail is a fact of flagrant violation of human rights. In such situations, all perpetrators must be punished; lessons must be learned from what happened to prevent such incidents in the future.
At the same time, it must be understood that the West still regards Russia as its main rival in the foreign policy arena. Today, Russia is the only country in the world that can guarantee the destruction of the United States and its allies. On this basis, Russia will always be pressed, using any opportunities for this. The country's leadership understands this very well, therefore, according to a long established unwritten tradition, responds to all hostile attacks against Russia with adequate measures.
