Russian officials could face ban on visas into UK

Boris Johnson is due to meet Sergey Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, in Moscow this week
Boris Johnson is due to meet Sergey Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, in Moscow this week Credit: Rick Findler 

Russian officials involved in corruption and human rights abuses are currently free "to come and go from Britain as they please" and should be targeted by new legislation banning them from the country, MPs and peers have said.

Senior politicians in the Commons and Lords are attempting to introduce laws imposing visa bans on individuals who have been involved in "gross human rights abuses".

Last week David Cameron appeared to back the idea after warning that "we need to think about other ways of hitting the corrupt where it hurts".

Ministers have said a new "Magnitsky Act", akin to those introduced in the US and Canada, is unnecessary because existing laws already allow them to prevent human rights abusers from entering the country - but the former Prime Minister said it was important for Britain to work together with other countries "under a common heading".

The moves are likely to raise tensions between Boris Johnson and Sergey Lavrov, his Russian counterpart as the Foreign Secretary travels to Moscow this week.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Credit:  Pavel Golovkin

On the day of Mr Johnson's arrival in Russia, the Commons is separately due to hold a three-hour debate examining "Russian interference" in UK politics and society, with MPs planning to raise concerns about possible meddling in the General Election, as well as the influence of Moscow's state broadcasters on political dialogue in Britain.

Meanwhile, Baroness Kennedy, the QC and human rights campaigner, is spearheading a private member's bill in the Lords giving ministers the power to turn away individuals "known to be or to have been involved in gross human rights abuses.”

As well as covering Russian individuals involved in gross abuses of human rights it would target individuals such as Salah Gosh, Sudan's ex intelligence chief, who had been identified by a UN panel of experts as an individual who should be subject to sanctions because of his role in the Darfur atrocities, Baroness Kennedy told the Lords on Friday.

The bill has been backed by senior peers including Lord Trimble, the former first minister of Northern Ireland, Baroness Bottomley, an ex-cabinet minister, and Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, a former justice of the Supreme Court, who described the move as "compellingly necessary".

A similar effort in the Commons is being led by Ian Austin, a senior Labour MP, and has been backed by Ken Clarke, the former Justice Secretary, and Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of the foreign affairs select committee. Mr Tugendhat said: "Corrupt states are spreading their poison and we must act to stop them."

Ministers argue that existing laws already allow the Government to ban gross abusers of human rights from entering the country.

But the bills would introduce a public list of those banned under the measure, which Baroness Kennedy said was necessary to "both focus the attention of those applying that law and introduce greater transparency into the exercise of the power to impose visa bans."

The Commons and Lords bills are attempts to bring in a UK "Magnitsky Act", similar to legislation already introduced in the US, Canada, Estonia and Lithuania.

In a speech last week Mr Cameron said: "One of my regrets of my time in office was that we didn't introduce the Magnitsky Act.

"The Foreign Office argument was that Britain’s existing approach was better, because we could sanction all the people on that list – and more besides. And I went along with it.

"But I soon realised this ignored the advantages of working together – with other countries – under a common heading."

Vladimir Putin has personally railed against the moves in other countries, even imposing a retaliatory ban on US adoptions of Russian children, as a result of the legislation passed in DC.

The legislation abroad was brought in as a result of a campaign by Bill Browder, a British financier whose lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was killed in prison while investigating a giant fraud against his investment firm, Hermitage Capital.

Baroness Kennedy
Baroness Kennedy is spearheading a  a private member's bill to give ministers the power to turn away individuals involved in human rights abuses Credit:  JUSTIN LEIGHTON

The US Treasury now publishes a "Magnitsky list" on its website, naming individuals subject to asset freezes and visa bans for their involvement in human rights abuses, including those specifically linked to the Magnitsky case.

Last year, following a Commons campaign led by Dominic Raab, now the justice minister, an amendment was added to the Criminal Finances bill, enabling the Government and private parties to apply to the High Court to freeze UK assets belonging to those involved in or profiting from gross human rights abuses.

MPs and peers now want to legislate for "part two" of the Magnitsky measures and introduce visa bans targeting similar individuals.

Mr Browder said: "The fact that Britain is so far behind the US and Canada needs to be fixed."

On Friday Baroness Kennedy said of Magnitsky's death: "Knowing that Russia under Putin will never prosecute those who jailed, persecuted and ultimately killed Sergei, Browder has lobbied and campaigned and urged other nations to deny sanctuary to his killers and to create laws which will deny those criminals the enjoyment of travel, the use of ill-gotten gains and the anonymity that which allows them to escape ignominy.

"So far, he has persuaded the United States and Canadian Governments to legislate, and it is time that we did this, too."

Baroness Williams, a Home Office minister, said existing laws prevent "those involved in gross human rights abuses entering the UK".

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