Sen. Mitt Romney Willard (Mitt) Mitt RomneyBiden's minimum wage push faces uphill battle with GOP GOP senators wrestle with purging Trump from party Impeachment trial tests Trump's grip on Senate GOP MORE (R-Utah) on Tuesday called for the imposition of sanctions on Russia following the arrest of political opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was detained following his return to Moscow over the weekend.
“The corruption and lawlessness of the Putin regime continues to be on full display for the world to see. The detention of Navalny is yet another shameless attempt by Putin to silence the Russian people’s fight for freedom and democracy,” Romney tweeted Tuesday. “The U.S must hold him accountable.”
The corruption and lawlessness of the Putin regime continues to be on full display for the world to see. The detention of Navalny is yet another shameless attempt by Putin to silence the Russian people’s fight for freedom and democracy. The U.S must hold him accountable. https://t.co/KNfIFRtcJq — Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) January 19, 2021
The Utah senator linked to legislation he co-sponsored with Sens. Chris van Hollen (D-Md.), Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioFlorida Republicans close ranks with Trump after Capitol siege Confirmation hearing for Biden's DNI pick postponed McConnell about to school Trump on political power for the last time MORE (R-Fla.), Ben Cardin Benjamin (Ben) Louis CardinSenate Democrats leery of nixing filibuster Georgia keeps Senate agenda in limbo Trump signs bill authorizing memorial to fallen journalists MORE (D-Md.) and Chris Coons Chris Andrew CoonsSenate Democrats leery of nixing filibuster Security concerns mount ahead of Biden inauguration Trump impeachment collides with Biden's agenda MORE (D-Del.) that would sanction Kremlin officials allegedly involved in Navalny’s poisoning with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.
Navalny became ill last year on a domestic flight to Siberia and was rushed to a Berlin hospital, where he was placed in a medically induced coma. After he was released from the hospital, Russia’s prison agency informed him that he would be in violation of the terms of a 2014 suspended sentence unless he returned to Moscow immediately.
Officials told Navalny that if he returned to Russia any later, he would be subject to arrest. Navalny has maintained the 2014 embezzlement conviction was politically motivated. Officials took him into custody at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport Sunday.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied poisoning Navalny, and a spokesperson for President Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich PutinIncoming national security adviser calls for immediate release of Kremlin critic Navalny Kremlin critic Navalny detained in Moscow upon return to Russia Navalny planning return to Russia on Sunday MORE dismissed him as suffering from a persecution complex.
However, last year Navalny impersonated a Kremlin intelligence official and recorded a call in which an FSB toxins expert seemingly confirmed the poison was applied to the inseam of his underpants. Russia stuck to its denial after the recording was released.
onedoor on January 19th, 2021 at 15:45 UTC »
Somewhat relevant:
https://news.uchicago.edu/big-brains-podcast-vladimir-putins-no-1-enemy-bill-browder
Read the whole thing if you have the time, but here’s a little about the source of the Magnitsky Act, the original sanctions on Russia’s cronies:
”Bill Browder: And eventually, we grew become the largest investment fund in Russia.
Paul Rand: Browder was lauded as a financial genius by Time magazine, and in 1997, he was one of the best performing hedge fund managers in the world. Then, just one year later, Russia defaulted on its bonds. It devalued its currency and Hermitage Capital took a nosedive.
Bill Browder: I lost 90% of my clients' money. And then, after that, with the last 10 cents of the dollar that I had left, the oligarchs were going to swoop in and try to steal the rest.
Bill Browder: Well, I said to myself, "The police don't police. The regulators don't regulate. But the one thing that I can do is to research."
Paul Rand: These oligarchs, powerful Russian businessmen, routinely skim money off the top of big companies. So, Browder decided to expose it. He and his team started with one of the biggest companies in Russia, the oil giant Gazprom.”
...
”Bill Browder: And so, in June of 2004, after Khodorkovsky was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison, these other oligarchs went to Putin, one by one, and said, "Vladimir, what do we have to do so we don't sit in a cage?" And Putin said, "It's real simple. 50%." And this is not 50% for the Russian government or 50% for the presidential administration of Russia. This is 50% for Vladimir Putin. At that moment in time, he became the richest man in the world.”
...
”Bill Browder: And the next thing we know, we no longer own our investment holding companies. Using the documents seized by the police, they'd been fraudulently re-registered out of our name into the name of a man who was a convicted killer, who was let out of jail early by the police, presumably to put his name on these documents. So, at this point, I'm terrified. I'm terrified, not for economic reasons. Look, our money is safe, right? But if the police are working with murderers to steal our companies, what else are they going to do? So, I went and hired the smartest lawyer I knew in Russia. It was a 35 year old young man named Sergei Magnitsky.”
...
“Bill Browder: And six months into this, he started to develop terrible pains in his stomach. He ended up losing 40 pounds. He was diagnosed as having pancreatitis and gallstones, and he was prescribed an operation which was supposed to happen on the 1st of August, 2009. A week before the operation, they came to him again and they again asked him to sign a false confession, and again, he refused. In retaliation for that, they abruptly moved him to a maximum security prison called Butyrka.
Bill Browder: Butyrka is considered to be one of the worst and most horrible prisons in Russia. And most significantly for Sergei, there was no medical facilities there. At Butyrka, his health completely broke down and went into a terrible downward spiral. Ear piercing pain. And they refused him all medical attention. Sergei wrote, and his lawyers wrote, 20 different requests for medical attention. Every one of those requests was either ignored or denied in writing.
Bill Browder: On the night of November 16, 2009, Sergei Magnitsky went into critical condition. On that night, the Butyrka authorities didn't want to have responsibility for him anymore. So, they put them in an ambulance and sent him to a different prison across town that had a medical wing. When he arrived at the different prison, instead of putting him in the emergency room, they put him in an isolation cell. They chained him to a bed and eight riot guards with rubber batons came into the cell and beat him until he died.”
...
One of Putin’s main critics and person he stopped from being in elections (Navalny) was recently almost killed by an assassination(after multiple more subtle attempts). Watch this video where Navalny explains everything (use captions).
Also, Navalny recently fooled one of them into giving detail by pretending to be higher ups debriefing them on the most recent failed attempt:
”At the same time, Navalny was also making calls. To begin with, he told the agents who he was, and those he contacted immediately ended the call. For the final call to Kudryavtsev, his team decided on a different approach: a sting operation.”
lol They inadvertently set the expectation of Navalny and team being direct. Probably after each call they contacted others as a warning, and when they got to Kudryavstev, the operatives were all groomed to expect something completely different.
cheetahlip on January 19th, 2021 at 14:54 UTC »
I would expect that to get passed pretty quick after tomorrow 😂
whileoceaniasleeps on January 19th, 2021 at 14:52 UTC »
Magnitsky Act round 2. The US needs to go after Semion Mogilevich and cut the head off Putin’s masters in Russian mafia with a targeted sanctions assault that makes the first round look like a joke.