MOSCOW. May 29 (Interfax) - The passage by the United States Congress of the Magnitsky bill will demand retaliatory measures from Russia, said Russian Presidential Aide for International Affairs Yury Ushakov.
"We already got used to the Jackson-Vanik (amendment) somehow, we know how to deal with it, and actually, it was not a major problem. But if a new, already anti-Russian 'Magnitsky bill' is passed, that will require retaliatory measures - and all hell will break loose," he said at a briefing on Tuesday.
"We would very much like to avoid it, and we are very hopeful that an anti-Russian law will not be substituted for the anti-Soviet amendment. We are set not to extend the list that we too have but move in the opposite direction," the presidential aide said.
The existence of the Jackson-Vanik amendment will no longer be a hindrance for Americans "because on the Russian market U.S. companies could find themselves in a disadvantagef position compared to their rivals from Europe, Asia and other regions," he said.