US President Barack Obama Friday signed legislation granting normal trade relations to Russia, which infuriated Moscow by including sanctions targeting alleged Russian human rights abusers. Obama signed the bill into law a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the so-called Magnitsky Act, which blacklists Russian officials allegedly implicated in the prison death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
Magnitsky was held in pre-trial jail on fraud allegations when he died in 2009 of several untreated conditions. Prior to his arrest he claimed to have discovered a major tax fraud covered up by interior ministry officials and testified against them. Putin's comments came before the Russian lower house gave initial backing to a bill that Moscow sees as tit-for-tat retaliation for the actions for the Magnitsky legislation passed by the US Congress.
"The investigation (into Magnitsky's death) is not over yet, and it's not yet clear who is right and who is wrong there, what the situation is. This is a purely political, unfriendly act," Putin said. "I don't understand why," he said. "Why do they need it? They (the United States) talk of a reset but they themselves make the situation worse."
The legislation approves establishing permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with Russia, ending Cold War-era restrictions, and grants the same status to Moldova. The repeal of the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment was meant to reflect the changes in the world with Russia's ascension to the World Trade Organization. The White House opposed turning the trade bill into a referendum on Russia's human rights record amid already-strained ties, after Obama engineered a "reset" of relations with Russia in his first term.
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