[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3275 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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115th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3275
To amend the Russia Sanctions Review Act of 2017 to ensure appropriate
congressional review and the continued applicability of sanctions under
the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 25, 2018
Mr. Cardin (for himself and Mr. McCain) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Russia Sanctions Review Act of 2017 to ensure appropriate
congressional review and the continued applicability of sanctions under
the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) On December 14, 2012, the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law
Accountability Act (title IV of Public Law 112-208; 22 U.S.C.
5811 note) (in this section referred to as the ``Magnitsky
Act''), which imposes visa bans and asset freezes on those
involved in the Sergei Magnitsky case and other officials
responsible for gross human rights abuses in the Russian
Federation, was signed into law.
(2) On December 28, 2012, in response to the Magnitsky Act,
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill that
banned citizens of the United States from adopting Russian
children, impacting the lives of hundreds of Russian orphans
and the families in the United States that they were slated to
join. The bill, which also banned United States-funded civic
groups from operating in the Russian Federation, sparked
massive protests in Moscow.
(3) On April 13, 2013, one day after the United States
issued its first sanctions designations under the Magnitsky Act
on 18 officials of the Government of the Russian Federation,
the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation issued a
retaliatory list of 18 officials of the Government of the
United States who are banned from entering the Russian
Federation.
(4) On June 13, 2013, in testimony before the Committee on
Foreign Relations of the Senate, now-slain Russian opposition
leader Boris Nemtsov called the Magnitsky Act ``the most pro-
Russian law in the history of any foreign parliament''.
(5) On July 11, 2013, following an unprecedented posthumous
trial that many observers noted fell short of international
fair trial standards, a court in the Russian Federation found
Sergei Magnitsky guilty of tax evasion.
(6) On June 9, 2016, senior members of the Presidential
campaign of Donald Trump met with a Russian lawyer with ties to
the Kremlin to discuss the adoption policy of the Russian
Federation after the Magnitsky Act.
(7) On February 9, 2018, Vladimir Putin said ``I think that
[the United States Congress] will soon get tired of [the
Magnitsky Act]''.
(8) On July 16, 2018, during a joint press conference with
President Donald Trump in Helsinki, Finland, Vladimir Putin
indicated the interest of the Government of the Russian
Federation in questioning officials of the Government of the
United States and others involved in the passage and
implementation of the Magnitsky Act.
(9) As of July 2018, 49 individuals in the Russian
Federation, including those with close ties to Vladimir Putin,
have been sanctioned pursuant to the Magnitsky Act.
(10) As of July 2018, Canada and the United Kingdom, the
Netherlands, and other countries in Europe continue to adopt or
further efforts to develop their own versions of the Magnitsky
Act.
(11) On August 2, 2017, President Donald Trump signed into
law the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act
(Public Law 115-44), which, among other things, imposes a slate
of mandatory sanctions on the Russian Federation and requires
congressional review and provides for possible congressional
disapproval of actions by the executive branch to lift United
States sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW AND CONTINUED APPLICABILITY OF SANCTIONS
UNDER THE SERGEI MAGNITSKY RULE OF LAW ACCOUNTABILITY ACT
OF 2012.
Section 216(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Russia Sanctions Review Act of 2017
(22 U.S.C. 9511(a)(2)(B)(i)) is amended--
(1) in subclause (II), by striking ``; or'' and inserting a
semicolon;
(2) in subclause (III), by striking ``; and'' and inserting
``; or''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(IV) the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of
Law Accountability Act of 2012 (title
IV of Public Law 112-208; 22 U.S.C.
5811 note); and''.
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