Canada shouldnât put too much stock into Russiaâs angry statements over a new bill that would enable sanctions on foreigners who violate international human rights, according to an American financier who supports the measures.
Bill S-226, also known as is named after the Moscow lawyer who died in a Russian prison after he accused the Kremlin of stealing $230 million from a foreign investment fund.
The legislation would allow Canada to forbid business dealings with any foreigners -- not just Russians -- who break internationally agreed upon human rights rules.
The bill passed with unanimous support in the House of Commons on Wednesday night.
But Russia has called the legislation a direct attack on its foreign affairs and suggested that Canada would not impose sanctions on the U.S. for âfor capital punishment, legalizing tortures, unlawful detentions in Guantanamo Bay and CIA secret prisons in Europe.â
âWhile keeping a blind eye on real human rights violations in the U.S. and Canada, Russophobes target Russia in S-226 because of hatred and bias,â the Russian embassy in Canada said in a statement on Tuesday.
Financier Bill Browder once hired Magnitsky to investigate his investment fund and has fought for justice ever since his death in 2009. He has since testified before a Parliamentary committee and U.S Congress in support of the measures.
âThis is one of our biggest pieces of leverage in the West,â Browder told CTVâs Power Play on Wednesday. âWe donât have to go to war with Russia with tanks. We can use banks.â
The U.S. passed a similar law in 2012 under the Obama administration. Russia reacting by scrapping its adoption program with the U.S., a move that angered human rights groups in both countries.
For Russia-Canada relations, such repercussions are already off the table. In 2014, Russia banned adoptions to all countries that recognize same-sex marriage.
Browder says that Putin takes Magnitsky-inspired laws âpersonallyâ because it could affect his own foreign holdings.
âPutin hates this because Putin is a kleptocrat -- heâs a criminal. Heâs stolen lots of money, all the people around him have stolen lots of money, and theyâre all potentially subject to the Magnitsky Act,â he said.
âAll the money that theyâve stolen that they keep in the West could eventually be seized and frozen. And that terrifies him.â
Browder is part of a team looking to uncover where the $230 million of stolen tax money that Magnitsky exposed went. He says that âmillionsâ in âdirty moneyâ is in Canada, but would not confirm exactly how much because he is involved with law enforcement.
âWeâve traced some of that money to Canada and weâre now actively engaged with law enforcement in Canada to prosecute and seize that money from the people who have stolen it,â he said.
âWhat I can say is itâs significant and itâs real, and thatâs just one particular situation.â
The bill is hardly the first blow to Canada-Russia relations; Canada has already joined other Western nations by sanctioning Russia. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland has been a harsh critic of Putin, and the Kremlin has imposed a travel ban on her.
As for Russiaâs threats of response, Browder says they usually follow a pattern.
âThe way that the Russians operate is they huff and they puff, and then they carry on with business. I wouldnât be too concerned with this sort of non-specific threat,â he said.