Obama Signs Bill Detailing New Trade Relations With Russia
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(Barack Obama, Creative Commons)
President Obama signed a bill that normalizes trade with Russia, lifting Cold War-era restrictions on trade. The bill passed in the Senate last week, after passing in the House three weeks ago.
A second part of the bill imposes sanctions on Russian officials suspected of human rights violations, denying visas and freezing U.S. bank assets of such individuals.
The bill, named for Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian anti-corruption lawyer allegedly beaten to death in jail after exposing a criminal ring of Russian officials, has angered the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Putin called it "a purely political and unfriendly act" on the part of the U.S.
Read more of Neon Tommy's coverage of U.S.-Russia relations here.
