Putin signs law in response to Magnitsky Act.<BR> US adoptions of Russian Children Ends.</BR>

The US Congress and Senate interfered with Russian domestic affairs [again] when they passed the "Magnitsky Act" this year which President Obama signed into law on December 14, 2012. The Magnitsky Act targeted Russian officials whom the US government blamed for the death of Sergei Magnitsky who died in prison of pancreatitis in Russia in 2009. The government charged prison doctor, Dmitry Kratov in the case but a Russian court later acquitted him.

The Magnitsky Act

Sergei Magnitsky, an asset of a UK investment firm, died in prison in Russia of pancreatitis in 2009.

The Magnitsky Act prohibits the entrance of targeted Russian officials into the United States and use of the US banking system. Magnitski worked for Hermitage Capital Management, a transnational investment fund and asset management company based in the UK with offices in the Cayman Islands and Moscow, Russia. In June, 2007 Russian authorities raided Hermitage's Moscow office and the offices of their law firm, Firestone Duncan. They charged Hermitage for hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes and arrested Magnitsky, a Hermitage lawyer in 2008. The story in the Western media is that Magnitsky was left to die because he exposed corruption in the Russian government. In November, 2010 the New York Times reported that "high ranking police officials" actually embezzled money from the government while blaming Magnitsky:

"The police officials contended that the lawyer, Sergei L. Magnitsky, had helped to mastermind a complex tax scheme to steal $230 million from the government. Their announcement, scheduled for the eve of the anniversary of his death last year, represented an effort to turn the tables on Mr. Magnitsky’s supporters, who have organized a concerted campaign in Russia and abroad to show that high-ranking police officials themselves embezzled the money."

There's obviously more to these conflicting stories than we are reading in the corporate media of western governments. The arrest of Magnitsky is reminiscent of the arrest of Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky on charges of fraud in 2003. His personal wealth was $15 billion when he was a member of the Yukos oil oligarchy that gained control of huge chunks of Russian industry in shady privatizations and threatened to use their power in an attempt to gain control of the government in the late 1990s when President Yeltsin was ill, creating a power vacuum in the Kremlin. Facing arrest in Russia, Khodorkovsky made a deal, passing control of his shares in the Russian oil giant Yukos to banker Jacob Rothschild. Khodorkovsky is currently serving a 13 year sentence in prison, convicted of oil theft and money laundering and he is expected to be released in 2016, possibly as early as 2014 according to Khodorkovsky’s own website.

Magnitsky died in 2009 from pancreatitis after 11 months in prison. In their ongoing effort to destabilize the Russian government, the US and UK governments and corporate media then declared Magnitsky as a righteous hero-victim who was imprisoned and left to die with untreated pancreatitis as a penalty for uncovering corruption in the Russian government. The western media also threw in gratuitious accusations of "torture and beating" by Russian prison guards, providing no evidence that this ever took place.

President Putin Responds

President Vladimir Putin responds to the Magnitsky Act, passed by the US Congress and signed into law by President Obama on Dec. 14, 2012

President Putin described the Magnitsky Act as “a purely political, unfriendly move.” Regarding the death of Magnitsky, he expressed his regret for the tragedy, but noted that the investigation into the case is not over and it is yet to be found who is to blame for the incident. But he added, "I don’t understand why Russian-US relations are sacrificed for the sake of domestic policies." He also noted that prisoners in US prisons also die, “Why, don’t people die in their prisons as well? Perhaps, even more than in ours.” He pointed out that despite promises made in Washington, the Guantanamo Bay prison camp is still operating, "People are kept there without trial – in shackles and chains just like in the Middle Ages.” He cited the hypocrisy of the United states saying that the same people “who opened secret prisons and legalized torture during investigations” now attack Russia for problems in their prisons.

Regarding Russian children dying while in the care of foreign foster families, Putin slammed US authorities for their slack reaction to the deaths:

"We are indignant not so much at these tragedies – even though it’s the worst thing that can happen – as at the reaction of the [US] government, a vindicatory reaction. That’s what is bad,”

Not the first break in US-Russian adoptions

Artem Saveliev, led away by authorities for his return trip to Russia. He was adopted by a US mother and nurse in 2009 who rejected him a year later.

So this is not the first time adoptions between Russia and the US were frozen. It happened before in 2010 when Torry Hansen, an adoptive mother of Artem put her 7-year-old son on a plane and sent him back to Russia saying she no longer wanted him. Artem, just seven years old, travelled from Tennessee to Washington, and from Washington to Moscow, alone and unaccompanied by United Airlines against their own regulations for transporting minors. This callous move by a US mother and authorities infuriated the Russian people. Child psychologists fear the effects of the rejection will be traumatic for the boy. Since then, the two countries signed an agreement that obligates US parents who want to adopt Russian children to take foster parent courses. It also required that Russian children keep their Russian citizenship until they are 18 and that Russia oversees situations where Americans no longer want a child they've previously adopted. But that agreement came to an end when Washington launched its latest assault on Russia with the Magnitsky Act,

The Dima Yakovlev Law

18 month old Dima Yakovlev was adopted and left for 9 hours to die in temperatures reaching 120 degrees fahrenheit in the car of his adoptive father.

Russia's President Putin has now signed into law the Dima Yakovlev Law, passed earlier by the United Russia faction of the State Duma. It is named after an 18 month old Russian boy, left locked in a car by his adoptive father, Michael Harrison for 9 hours on a hot day in Purcellville, Virginia. Little Dima died in the car where inside temperatures reached 50 degrees C (120 degrees F). Harrison was charged with unpremeditated murder but later acquitted by a US court. The Dima Yakovlev Law terminates adoption of Russian children by US citizens.

Vyacheslav Nikonov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee (United Russia), dedicated the law to "all children who fell victims to [the] cruelty of U.S. adoptive parents" He read the names aloud of 19 Russian children who died at U.S. adoptive families in the last decade.

Nikonov added, "Our law cannot avoid freezing of bank accounts and impoundment of assets either." But according to the deputy, among those US citizens this law bars from visiting Russia will be:

"the killers of Russian children and those who allowed them to dodge responsibility; ... security service agents who had abducted Russian citizens abroad, like Viktor Bout; ... judges who passed unimaginable sentences on our citizens for crimes they had not committed; ... [and] the administration of the Guantanamo prison where people are kept for years without a trial and tortured," He specifically mentioned a Guantanamo prison head who has already been denied a visit to Russia."

Deputy Nikonov said that the Russian Foreign Ministry has already drafted the list of US citizens prohibited from setting foot on Russian soil in the future.

Text of the Dima Yakovlev Law

The Dima Yakovlev Law encompasses those who are involved in violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms and particularly those of who violate the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens. The is more robust than the Magnitsky Act passed by the US government earlier as it bans the following examples of US citizens from entering the territory of the Russian Federation (as taken directly from the law, translated into English by RT:

"Measures against persons involved in abuse of fundamental human rights and freedoms including those of Russian citizens”

Approved by the State Duma on December 21, 2012 and approved by the Federation Council on December 26, 2012

Article I

Measures against persons involved in abuse of fundamental human rights and freedoms of Russian citizens shall include:

A ban to enter Russia for those citizens of the United States of America

a) who have been involved in abuse of fundamental human rights and freedoms;

b) who have committed or been complicit in crimes against Russian citizens abroad;

c) who hold public office and by their actions or lack thereof have exempted from responsibility for persons who committed or aided to crimes against Russian citizens;

d) who were supposed to take decisions which exempted from responsibility persons who committed or were complicit in crimes against Russian citizens;

e) who have been involved in kidnapping and arbitrary imprisonment of Russian citizens;

f) who have passed arbitrary and biased sentences on Russian citizens;

g) who are engaged in arbitrary prosecution of Russian citizens;

h) who have taken arbitrary decisions that violated the rights and justified interests of Russian citizens;

Article 2

The list of the citizens of the United States of America forbidden from entering the Russian Federation and organizations, the activity of which has been suspended in compliance with Article 3 of this Federal law, is kept by a federal executive body in charge of developing and implementing the state policy and legal regulation in terms of foreign relations of the Russian Federation.

In respect of those citizens of the United States citizens, included into the list, provided by Part 1 of this Article:

1) they are forbidden from disposing of property located in the Russian Federation;

2) activity of legal entities run by these persons is suspended in the Russian Federation;

3) membership in board of directors or other governing bodies of organizations, registered in the Russian Federation, is suspended.

Amendments into the list, provided by Part 1 of this Article, are to be submitted to a federal executive body in charge of developing and implementing the state policy and legal regulation in terms of foreign relations of the Russian Federation, by members of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, members of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Human Rights Ombudsman of the Russian Federation, political parties, the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation as well as by government bodies.

Procedure for keeping the list, provided by Part 1 of this Article, is determined by a federal executive body in charge of developing and implementing the state policy and legal regulation in terms of foreign relations of the Russian Federation.

Head of a federal executive body in charge of developing and implementing the state policy and legal regulation in terms of foreign relations of the Russian Federation is to report on the course of this Federal Law to the chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation at least once a year.

Article 3

In accordance with the current federal law, activities of non-governmental organizations that take part in political activities carried out in the Russian Federation or get grants in cash or other kind of property from citizens (organizations) of the United States of America or implement projects, programs in the Russian Federation or get involved in other activities that pose a threat to the interests of the Russian Federation are suspended by a federal executive body in charge of working out and implementing the state policy and of legal regulation in terms of registering non-governmental organizations. The federal executive body in charge of working out and implementing the state policy and of legal regulation in terms of registering non-governmental organizations forwards the information about the non-governmental organizations the activities of which are suspended, to the federal executive body in charge of working out and implementing the state policy and of legal regulation in terms of the Russian Federation's' international relations.

A Russian Federation citizen who has a United States of America citizenship cannot be a member or head a non-governmental organization, its structural division or of the structural division of an international or foreign non-governmental organization (department, branch, or representation) engaged in political activity carried out in the Russian Federation. An infringement of this ban entails a suspension by a federal executive body in charge of working out and implementing the state policy and of regulation in terms of registering non-governmental organizations and the activity of the said non-governmental organization or its structural subdivision.

Suspending of the non-governmental organization's activity (or its structural division) in accordance with Parts 1 and 2 of the this Article entails consequences envisaged by paragraph one of Item 61 of Article 32 of the Federal Law dated 12 January 1996, No. 7-ФЗ On Non-Governmental Organizations.” As regards the property of non-governmental organizations (or structural divisions) the activities of which are suspended in accordance with Parts 1 and 2 of this Article, the said property is seized following a court ruling in response to a request of the federal executive body in charge of working out and implementing the state policy and of legal regulation in terms of registering non-governmental organizations.

If a non-governmental organization the activity of which is suspended in accordance with this federal law, stops receiving grants in cash or other property from citizens (organizations) of the United State of America or stops implementing its projects, programs or doing anything in the Russian Federation which poses a threat to the interests of the Russian Federation, the operation of this organization is resumed following a decision by a federal executive body in charge of working out and implementing the state policy and of legal regulation in terms of registering non-governmental organizations.

Article 4

It is forbidden to pass children, citizens of the Russian Federation over for adoption by citizens of the United States of America. Operation of organizations and bodies involved in selecting and passing children, citizens of the Russian Federation over for adoption by citizens of the United States of America willing to adopt the indicated children is prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Due to the prohibition on passing children, citizens of the Russian Federation over for adoption by the citizens of the United States of America as imposed in Part 1 of this Article, on the part of the Russian Federation terminate the operation of the Agreement between the United States of America and the Russian Federation Regarding Cooperation in Adoption of Children that had been signed in Washington, DC on July 13, 2011.

Article 5

To amend Subparagraph 7 of part one, Article 27 of the Federal Law of August 15, 1996 # 114-FZ ‘On the Procedure for Exit from the Russian Federation and Entry into the Russian Federation’ ( Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 1996, #34, Article 4029; 2003, #2, Article 159; 2006, #31, Article 3420; 2007, #3, Article 410; 2008, # 19, Article 2094; #30, Article 3616) and lay it out in the following edition:

“7) in regard to foreign citizens or individuals without a citizenship, a decision is taken on undesirability of their stay (residence) in the Russian Federation, including citizens on the list of citizens of the United States who are prohibited from entering the Russian Federation;".

Article 6

This Federal law and Subparagraph 7 of part one, Article 27 of the Federal Law of August 15, 1996 # 114-FZ ‘on the Procedure for Exit from the Russian Federation and Entry into the Russian Federation’ (this edition of the Federal law) is applied to citizens of countries that had taken the decision on forbidding entry of citizens of the Russian Federation to their territories, and on arresting assets of citizens of the Russian Federation based on involvement of these citizens of the Russian Federation in human rights violation in the Russian Federation.

Article 7

This Federal law comes to force as of January 1st, 2013.

Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation

(translated by Russia Today)

So President Putin signed the Dima Yakovlev Law making it effective January 1, 2013 and when criticized by the US and western media of stopping adoption of Russian children by US citizens, he replied,

"There are lots of places in the world where living standards are higher than they are here. Are we going to send all our children there? Perhaps we should move there ourselves?"

Accusing foreign governments who do not buckle to the demands of Washington and London of human rights violations is a favorite tool of the US, UK and NATO while they simultaneously wreak mahem, suffering and death in their imperial "war against terror" throughout the world. But increasingly they are receiving serious blowback in the form of legislation like the Dima Yakovlev Law and having their ambassadors and diplomats thrown out of counties like Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Syria and others for their belligerent attempts to interfere with the domestic affairs of these countries with the end game of destabilization and "regime change."

BIO AND MORE ESSAYS AND POETRY BY LES BLOUGH

References

Dima Yakovlev Law, Russia Today
Putin signs law in retaliation to the Magnitsky Act, Itar Tass.
Magnitsky case: Putin signs Russian ban on US adoptions, BBC
Russia may retaliate against Magnitsky Act with Dima Yakovlev Law, Russia Behind the Headlines.
Obama Signs Magnitsky Act Into Law, RIA Novosti
Russia accuses US of using 'cold war tactics' over Magnitsky Act, The Guardian (UK)
Hermitage Capital Management
Russian Oil Magnate Trial Resumes Monday, Axis of Logic
Arrested oil tycoon passed shares to banker, Washington Times
Khodorkovsky plans to write governance work in prison, RAPSI
Moscow court cuts oil tycoon's prison term, Al Jazeera
Fury as U.S. woman adopts Russian boy, 7, then sends him back alone with note saying: 'I don't want him anymore', The Daily Mail
Putin on Magnitsky Act: Why do those behind Guantanamo lecture us on human rights? RT News
Kremlin Says New Evidence Ties Lawyer Who Died in Jail to Theft of $230 Million, New York Times