Britain prepares after Brexit the most stringent in Europe, sanctions for violators of human rights and the impact on the Russian oligarchs

Dominic Raab

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

The UK authorities will be able to use the so-called Magnitsky amendment to the law on sanctions and the fight against money laundering after the completion of Brexit

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The UK authorities will be able to use the so-called Magnitsky amendment to the law on sanctions and the fight against money laundering after the completion of Brexit. This was in an article for the newspaper the Telegraph wrote of the British foreign Minister Dominic Raab.

“After we leave the EU and set our own rules for the imposition of sanctions, the government will apply the provisions of the “Magnitsky amendment” to the law of sanctions”, – said the Minister.

According to him, violators of human rights “anywhere in the world” will face the consequences of their actions: their assets in the UK will be frozen, and entry into this country is prohibited. Raab has promised to take measures to ensure that Britain was not a safe refuge for those “who benefits, torturing others.”

British foreign Minister added that earlier in the week visited Canada and got acquainted with the experience of the countries which adopted the “Magnitsky act” to restrict the issuance of visas and freeze the assets responsible for gross violations of human rights.

The British Parliament adopted an amendment, similar to the American “Magnitsky act”, in may 2018. In addition to the introduction of restrictive measures for violations of human rights, it also implies disclosure to 2020 information on those who hold assets under the jurisdiction of the British overseas territories. Speech, in particular, the British virgin and Cayman Islands.

Then the newspaper The Sunday Times, citing estimates by non-governmental organization Global Witness reported that Russian oligarchs are kept at the British offshore $ 47 billion and 41.5 billion of them lying on offshore accounts, the British virgin Islands.

The British authorities still have not used the amendment. In may of this year, the members of the house of Commons sent the foreign Ministry a letter in which he indicated that the amendment is not contrary to EU legislation. In addition, the parliamentarians noted, the EU Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which have also adopted laws with the “Magnitsky amendment”, used with respect to human rights violators. The MPs demanded from the British authorities as quickly as possible to create the necessary mechanisms for the implementation of the law. As noted by the Minister for European Affairs, Alan Duncan, the British version will be stiffer similar legislation in other European countries.