STOCKHOLM, October 31. /TASS/. Dialogue between Scandinavian parliamentary members and Russia has greatly improved recently, State Duma Deputy Speaker Olga Yepifanova said in a conversation with TASS after participating in the 71st session of the Nordic Council in Stockholm on October 28-31.
"I’d like to note that the dialogue has considerably changed since the last meeting. The Swedes did not want to communicate before, but now, in 2019, there is an absolutely normal and good discussion. There is some pressure from the outside, for example, a proposal on Magnitsky Act that did not come from Scandinavia, was discussed at the session. There is external pressure, but despite this we, as neighbors, maintain and foster our cooperation," she noted.
The State Duma deputy speaker explained that Sweden brought up the question of supporting the Magnitsky Act in Scandinavian countries. The proposal was made by the founder of the UK-based Hermitage Capital William Browder, who was sentenced to nine years in absentia by a Russian court.
"Unfortunately, the regulation does not allow our delegation to participate in discussions or voice its point of view, since we are just observers and have no right to vote. This proposal will be studied in the commission and submitted for voting next year," Yepifanova said.
In her speech at the session, Yepifanova called for various platforms where legislators interact with one another to be immune from political vicissitudes, such as in the Nordic Council, Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS), Barents Euro-Arctic Council, the Northern Dimension and the Arctic Council. "The formats make it possible to do almost any business free from the interference of politics. However, the discussion of the Magnitsky Act is an attempt to get drawn into politics," she pointed out.
"Within this organization we’re actively discussing the issue that it is wrong to impose sanctions on MPs. Everyone agrees, nods their heads, everyone is in accord, but the issue remains, and the sanctions — entry bans to different countries — still remain. This is a great obstacle," Yepifanova highlighted.
The US Congress adopted Magnitsky Act and US President Barack Obama signed it in December 2012. The document stipulates sanctions measures against some Russian officials, including law enforcement agents, who are allegedly involved, according to Washington, in the November 2009 death of Hermitage Capital Management attorney Sergei Magnitsky in Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina pretrial detention center. After that, similar Magnitsky Acts were also adopted in Canada, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, and the corresponding draft laws are being reviewed in some other countries. Russia regarded the Magnitsky Act as meddling in its domestic affairs.