I keep reading how Americans are “baffled” that the Russian government would “use helpless children as pawns”…
Now you know how Russians felt when the U.S. government insisted on passing the Magnitsky Act, and when they saw that government apparently willing to expand the secret list to include officials who are perceived to be guilty of oppressing the political opposition in Russia, or lawmakers who supported the law forcing NGO’s who receive foreign funding to register as foreign agents. Neither of those have anything at all to do with the death of Sergei Magnitsky, who may well turn out to have been a criminal after all. It soon became obvious that the U.S. government was running a blacklist, to which people could be added at a whim or as a result of pressure from the political opposition in Russia…
Blame your own government (USA). A delegation of Russian senators visited America, bringing their evidence to date in the investigation against Magnitsky, in hopes they could head off the unfair legislation. Nobody (but nobody) would even look at it, and they were denied an audience with Senator Ben Cardin, co-sponsor of the law…
Tit-for-tat legislation is not supposed to make sense or to be fair. It is a retaliation to something that is itself perceived to be senseless and unfair. America has plenty of children internally awaiting adoption. If that doesn’t seem like a reasonable compromise, lobby the U.S. government to withdraw the Magnitsky Act…
There is a simple solution. The American congress repeals the Maginsky Act, and then the Duma repeals the Adoption Law. Your move America… 🙂
Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…