In a press conference, December 20, Putin made clear that he is not interested in prosecuting those responsible for the death of Magnitsky. Soviet propaganda for decades answered every charge of human rights abuse with a denunciation of human rights abuses in the West and true to this tradition, the focus of Putin's remarks was human rights abuses in the U.S. "They have their own problems," he said, "Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo-where they hold people for years without presenting any accusations. This is unimaginable. People move around in shackles as in the Middle Ages. Inside the country, they legalized torture." He said he considered the reaction of the Duma to the Magnitsky Act to be "emotional" but "reasonable."
The Russian authorities chose to treat the Magnitsky Act, which is directed against a small number of officials, as an attack on the entire Putin regime because it is a fundamental rule in Russia that criminals enjoy the protection of government. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, in another response to the Magnitsky Act, promised to ban entry into Russia of Americans implicated in the "kidnapping" of the arms dealer, Victor Bout, who was arrested in a sting operation in Thailand, where he was seeking to sell arms to terrorists from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC).
Despite the vehemence of the Russian response to the Magnitsky Act, Western countries are unlikely to be persuaded to overlook Russian human rights abuses in the future. Russia is a signer of international human rights conventions and a member of the Council of Europe and the West cannot forever ignore Russia's violations without treating these undertakings as meaningless.
For their part, Russia's leaders are making clear that if Russia's place in Europe is not vouchsafed uncritically, they are prepared to invent a new, anti-Western identity of their own.
In his annual address to the Federal Assembly, December 12, Putin attempted to sketch out the principles of this alternative identity. He said that Russians should be proud of their history, including the communist period. Putin said that it was necessary to link historical eras and understand that Russia "did not begin in 1917 or even in 1991 but rather has a continuous history spanning over one thousand years." He called for reviving the names of the most renowned military units from Soviet times and earlier eras, such as the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments. He said that Russia should preserve its geopolitical relevance and "multiply it," increasing its military might. This will supposedly demonstrate its "relevance" to neighbors and partners alike.
In an article in the journal, Ogonyek, October 15, 2012, Fyodr Lukyanov, the chief editor of the journal, "Russia in Global Politics" said that in the past, Russia faced with criticism over its human rights record from the Council of Europe always emphasized its desire to work with the Council of Europe to find diplomatic solutions and acceptable formulations. But this may no longer be the case. He cited the example of Dmitri Peskov, the press secretary of Putin, who reacted to official recommendations from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Russia's failure to honor its obligations by saying "We don't consider these formulas and calls to be proper and without a doubt we won't listen to them."
Lukyanov wrote that Russia contributes 12 per cent of the budget of the Council of Europe and is more self-confident as a result. In addition, according to Lukyanov, Russia is seeking new values after the post-Soviet crisis. "Against the background of Europe which sees the guarantee of its stability in the rejection of familiar dogmas and greater moral and cultural flexibility, the movement of Russia in the direction of "morality and spirituality," a strengthened demonstrative piety to the church and clearly expressed homophobia looks like a call to an alternative model.
