A Quick Russian Translation

When the Kremlin Says 'Adoptions,' It Means 'Sanctions'

Via the NYT: When the Kremlin Says ‘Adoptions,’ It Means ‘Sanctions’ 

This is likely obvious to anyone who is even passingly familiar with the situation, but this piece is worth a read for a detailed discussion.  It also should take away any thought that a discussion about adoption policy is as innocent or low-wattage as it might sound.

It might not seem obvious what sanctions have to do with American parents’ adoptions of Russian children, which is the topic that the younger Mr. Trump initially said Ms. Veselnitskaya wanted to discuss. Their connection comes down to one word: leverage.

The context is the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 American law that freezes the assets held in the United States by Russian officials responsible for human rights abuses. The law also bars these officials from receiving American visas. It was named after Sergei Magnitsky, a young Russian lawyer who died in pretrial detention after exposing a $230 million tax-theft scam perpetrated by Russian officials.

To the law’s backers, the Magnitsky Act was a way to strike a blow for justice. But to Mr. Putin, it seemed like an intolerable attack by the United States government against the stability of his own presidency.

[…]

Revoking the law became an important foreign policy priority for Mr. Putin’s government. And he identified adoptions as an area that seemed to offer a way to force the issue.

FILED UNDER: US Politics, World Politics, ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. gVOR08 says:

    This morning even FOX seems to understand this.
    He (Jr.) said that “we primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children.” (What this means is Moscow’s desire to end a U.S. law designed to punish officials responsible for the death of a Russian activist, which prompted Vladimir Putin to end the adoption program.)
    Of course FOX may be colluding in the plan to throw Fredo to the wolves. There’s an old line that conservatives eat their own children.

  2. al-Alameda says:

    The context is the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 American law that freezes the assets held in the United States by Russian officials responsible for human rights abuses. The law also bars these officials from receiving American visas. It was named after Sergei Magnitsky, a young Russian lawyer who died in pretrial detention after exposing a $230 million tax-theft scam perpetrated by Russian officials.

    Thank you Steven.
    I think the Russians looked at a Trump presidency as the opportunity of a generation to get things going their way in DC.

  3. Just 'nutha ig'nint cracker says:

    To the law’s backers, the Magnitsky Act was a way to strike a blow for justice. But to Mr. Putin, it seemed like an intolerable attack by the United States government against the stability of his own presidency.

    In fairness to Mr. Putin, I feel an obligation to note that the two perceptions stated above are not mutually exclusive. It’s possible for both of those perceptions to be seen a valid at the same time.

    It doesn’t help to explain why a purportedly loyal American citizen would become involved in corrupt dealings to tamper with the elections, but since we’re talking about members of the Trump Crime Family, we may not actually be dealing with any loyal citizens.