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US thinks Cold War going on: Russia

7 Dec 2012 18:55

Islam Times - Moscow has censured Washington over a law passed by the US Senate that bars Russians linked to allegations of rights abuse from entering America, saying the United States thinks the “Cold War is going on.”

“Apparently, Washington has forgotten what year this is and still thinks the Cold War is going on,” the Russian Foreign Ministry wrote on its official Twitter account after the Senate approved the motion on Thursday.

The measure would “adversely affect the prospects of bilateral cooperation” between Moscow and Washington, the ministry added.

    “It is perplexing and preposterous to hear human rights complaints from the US, where torture and kidnapping are legal in the 21st century.”

US Republican Senator John McCain who tabled the so-called Magnitsky Law said the motion was aimed at “sending a signal to [Russia’s President] Vladimir Putin and the Russian plutocracy that these kinds of abuses of human rights will not be tolerated.”

The Magnitsky Law, named after late Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, was drafted following the suspicious death of exiled Russian Alexander Perepilichnyy in the southeastern British county of Surrey.

Russia has warned of taking retaliatory measures, with Alexei Pushkov, the head of the foreign affairs committee in the Duma stating that Moscow could impose sanctions on US officials linked to human rights abuses.

Story Code: 218995