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US to hardly put Duma deputies on Magnitsky list, but anti-RF info campaign growing

For his part, leader of the Trade Union of Russian Citizens Nikolai Starikov noted that “the diplomacy is a tough sphere, where the response should be always symmetrical”
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, December 23 (Itar-Tass) — The US petition with the appeal to put the State Duma deputies, who voted for the ban on US adoptions of Russian orphans, points to the fact that the anti-Russian propagandistic campaign continues, Director General of the Institute of Foreign Political Studies and Initiatives Veronika Krasheninnikova told Itar-Tass on Sunday.

“I do not believe that the US State Department, which is keeping the Magnitsky list, will actually put 400 deputies of the State Duma on this list, but it is obvious that the information propagandistic campaign (against Russia) is gaining momentum with each new day,” the political expert believes.

Washington will not take such a radical step as deterioration of diplomatic relations, because the US needs the cooperation with Russia on different issues, for instance, related with Afghanistan and etc, she said.

Meanwhile, the escalation of the information attacks on Russia shows off that Russia is taking serious measures to confirm its independence, Krasheninnikova said.

In concrete, as for the US petition against the State Duma deputies, the political expert believes that “some radical circles in Washington are probably behind it and the Russian diaspora supporting them.”

“The US petition stated that the Russian law, as I quote it, deprives the orphans of their chances for survival. But nothing is said about the death of Russian children in the US for some unclear reasons,” Krasheninnikova said.

For his part, leader of the Trade Union of Russian Citizens Nikolai Starikov noted that “the diplomacy is a tough sphere, where the response should be always symmetrical.” “We cannot permit the attitude to Russia as a second-rate country,” the public figure said. In his view, if the US leadership puts Russian lawmakers on the Magnitsky Act after all, a Russian retaliatory law should embrace the US congressmen in the same way.

Meanwhile, “it seems to me, that the US will not mount tensions so sharply,” Starikov believes. In particular, as for the distribution of the links to the US petition in the Russian segment of the internet, the political expert called nonsense the fact that “some people, who are not US citizens” sign the petition at the website of the White House.

The US petition with the appeal to the US authorities to include in the Magnitsky list the names of the State Duma deputies, who support the so-called Dima Yakovlev’s bill, gained the necessary percentage of votes required for consideration by the US Administration. For less than two days 25,000 people have signed the petition, which was made public in the section of different public initiatives at the website of the White House on December 21.

Last Friday, the State Duma approved the third final reading of the bill on the measures of influence on people involved in the violations of the fundamental human rights and freedoms of Russian citizens that became the Russian response to the Magnitsky Act. 420 deputies voted for the document, seven deputies voted against it, and one deputy abstained. Thus, the deputies introduced a ban on US adoptions of Russian children and called for the denunciation of the Russian-US agreement in the sphere of adoptions. The State Duma also imposed visa and financial restrictions on people, who “decided to ban the entry of Russian citizens and the arrest of their assets for the motives of involvement of Russians citizens in violations of human rights.”

The Federation Council will debate the bill on December 26, after that in case of its approval it will enter into force as of January 1, 2013.