A new bill introduced Thursday by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Ben Cardin, D-Md., aims to protect Magnitsky Act sanctions on gross human rights abusers in Russia from being rescinded by President Trump and his administration.
McCain and Cardin say they are concerned Magnitsky could become a bargaining chip as Trump seeks better relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who proposed a deal during the two leaders’ summit in Helsinki this month that would have sent Bill Browder, a key advocate of the law, to Russia for questioning.
The two senators, who authored the law, propose adding the Magnitsky Act to another set of wide-ranging Russia sanctions called Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA, that was signed by Trump last summer. It would give Congress a say over enforcing Magnitsky, and could make it difficult to repeal Magnitsky, because CAATSA has wide bipartisan support.
“The Magnitsky Act remains the best mechanism to hold the Russian government accountable for its gross human rights abuses and provide justice to the Russian people,” McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. “Putin knows this and has been fighting against it for years. He will do anything to see the Magnitsky Act weakened – even asking President Trump to hand over a courageous human rights advocate and a former American ambassador for questioning by Russian authorities in exchange for ‘assistance’ in the Special Counsel probe.”
Putin’s proposal to Trump, which the president at first called an “incredible deal” but later rejected, would have allowed special counsel Robert Mueller access to Moscow’s questioning of Russians indicted for meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
In exchange, Trump would have had to allow Browder and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul to be sent there for questioning by Putin’s officials.
Cardin said he has “growing concerns” that the Magnitsky Act might have been part of the private two-hour negotiation between Trump and Putin before the press conference, when the two leaders unveiled the proposed exchange.
“As we did in CAATSA, Congress needs to assert its expectation that we will have a say in disapproving any Administration changes to this watershed human rights legislation,” Cardin said in a statement.
