USA Initiates Toughening of Sanctions against the Russian Federation

Congressmen presented a document introducing personal sanctions for human rights violations under the Magnitsky Act. The US Congress introduced a resolution urging the country's administration to impose sanctions against Russian officials involved in human rights violations in the Russian Federation. This was reported by the press service of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives of the US Congress. The resolution was submitted to the American legislature by the chairman of this committee, member of the Democratic Party Eliot Engel and committee's senior republican Michael McCaul. Sanctions are proposed to be introduced, in particular, within the framework of the “Magnitsky Act”. In addition, the document condemns the "practice of politically motivated" arrests. The authors of the resolution also called to "immediately release all those who are called political prisoners in Russia." The Magnitsky Act was passed by the US Congress and signed by President Barack Obama in December 2012. The document provides for sanctions against a number of Russian officials. Among them - employees of law enforcement agencies involved in the death of a Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in November 2009 in the Moscow Sailor's Silence pre-trial detention center. Recall, a year ago, the US Treasury Department included in the list of sanctions under the "Magnitsky law" the Terek Chechen special operations detachment and five Russian citizens. In Russia, they said that this was contrary to the principles of international law and promised to take retaliatory measures.