Russian oppositionist handed over “Nemtsov’s list” to the US Congress

During his visit to the United States, former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov handed over to the congress a list of journalists from Russian TV channels, who, in his opinion, should be added to the so-called Magnitsky list and against which American sanctions should be imposed.

The opposition politician did not specify the names of those who entered the list, but stressed that these were journalists who had participated in the persecution of Boris Nemtsov.

On the eve of Kasyanov’s visit to the United States, information appeared that journalists Vladimir Vladimir Solovyov, Dmitry Kiselev, Arkady Mamontov, Andrei Karaulov, Konstantin Semin, general directors of TV channels Vladimir Kulistikov and Oleg Dobrodeev were on the list prepared by Kasyanov himself and the party’s political council, as well as State Duma Deputy Alexei Pushkov, who is also a television journalist.

“We met with the heads of the foreign affairs committees of the US Senate and House of Representatives, and the leaders of party factions,” Kasyanov said, adding that now American legislators must decide whether these people are suitable for the blacklist.

“We believe that they are suitable, since, in our opinion, we are talking about human rights violations... Human rights violators should be on a blacklist. But in my country they cannot be held accountable, because the Prosecutor General’s Office is not doing anything in this direction,” Kasyanov emphasized.

"Nemtsov's List"

According to Kasyanov, the reason for creating the list was that in Russia now there is no free press at all, and the people on the list are not journalists, but propagandists.

In addition, speaking in the Washington Council on Foreign Relations, Kasyanov criticized the Russian authorities for the lack of economic reforms, and said that only the economic situation could influence the decisions taken by President Putin.

On the eve of Kasyanov’s visit to Washington, Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia Ella Pamfilova spoke negatively about the intention to transfer the so-called “Nemtsov list” to the US Congress. “I believe that it is indecent to appeal to the Congress of a foreign country instead of appealing to one’s own people. And introducing sanctions against journalists is even more indecent,” she said.

And the pro-Kremlin public organization “Anti-Fascist Anti-Maidan Council” approached Mikhail Kasyanov with a proposal to renounce Russian citizenship in favor of American citizenship.

“We believe that, as an honest person, Kasyanov should voluntarily renounce Russian citizenship and move to permanent residence in the United States, whose authorities he asks to impose sanctions against his fellow citizens. Only a person who does not respect either the population of Russia or the Russian authorities, who does not take into account the constitutional system and laws of the Russian Federation, can do this,” the head of the organization, Yevgeny Shabaev, told Izvestia.

The Anti-Fascist Anti-Maidan Council, founded by United Russia, calls itself a human rights organization. The Council is known, in particular, for demanding that Boris Nemtsov be held accountable for his position on the annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine. In Russian opposition circles this organization is called the Black Hundreds.