White House missile defence initiatives compounded by Magnitsky affair

The Russian leader spoke about this to Thomas Donilon in Moscow Monday after the White House national security advisor arrived in the Russian capital on a mission which should also include talks with senior Russian defence, intelligence and security officials including head of the National Security Council Nikolai Patrushev.

The visit came just two days after Washington exchanged blacklists of officials who are now denied entry to and access to their assets in each other’s country.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke about this to the media on Sunday:

Global security and global stability are hinged on the relationship between the United States and Russia. Unfortunately, Washington’s ‘Magnitsky List‘ has compromised both by souring this relationship. It amounts to flagrant interference in Russia’s internal affairs. It’s up to Russia to sort out the circumstances of the prison death of Russian lawyer Sergey Magnitsky".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov raised the issue after talking with Thomas Donilon in Moscow Monday:

"Tom Donilon has joined Secretary of State John Kerry, with whom I talked in London a few days ago, in acknowledging the fact that the Magnitsky affair and the misfortunes of Russian orphans adopted by US couples are serious irritants in Russian-American relations and have to be brought to exhaustive solutions. All right. We now expect the Americans to match their words with appropriate action". 

Mr Donilon delivered a message to President Putin in which President Barack Obama set out new initiatives concerning strategic arsenals and missile defence. The Kremlin described these initiatives as constructive and deserving to be looked into.