Russian senator calls for symmetrical response over Britain's "Magnitsky list"
MOSCOW. Sept 3 (Interfax) - Valery Shnyakin, deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Council's Foreign Affairs Committee, has called for symmetrical measures against UK citizens and companies in response to Britain's adoption of the so-called "Magnitsky list".
"There should be a symmetrical response on our part. There is appropriate diplomatic practice, there are many options, including those affecting the interests of British companies operating on Russian territory or of UK citizens who may find themselves 'blacklisted' as personae non gratae," the senator told Interfax on Monday.
Britain's approval of the list of Russian officials allegedly involved in the death of Sergei Magnitsky is, in the Russian senator's opinion, a show of support for the Untied States and President Barack Obama, whose administration initiated the "Magnitsky list".
"I am perplexed to hear Sergei Magnitsky being portrayed in the West and in Europe as a rights campaigner or lawyer, whereas Mr. Magnitsky had been a financier, an accountant and an auditor. No lawyer would have been able to conceive such shrewd tax evasion schemes that inflicted considerable losses to our budget," he said.
Shnyakin was among a group of Russian senators who met with U.S. officials and congressmen in Washington in July.
"We presented our vis-a-vis with a thick report containing a complete chronology of events that had preceded Magnitsky's death. And we also informed them that the investigation had not been through yet and that no hearings had been held," the senator explained.
A copy of Magnitsky's service record book was presented, from which it follows that "Magnitsky was employed by the Hermitage Capital firm as an accountant-economist and auditor".
Without dramatizing the situation over Britain's approval of the "Magnitsky list", Russia should be ready for decisive retaliatory action, Shnyakin said. He did not rule out that other European countries might follow suit, and that Russia "should be ready for that".
