Russia terminating anti-crime cooperation agreement with U.S.

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia is terminating the agreement on cooperation with the United States in the fields of law and drug enforcement, the Russian government said Wednesday, Jan 30, according to RIA Novosti.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a relevant order to terminate the deal, the government said in a statement on its website.

“The order was initiated by the Russian Foreign Ministry, as the above agreement is out of line with today’s realities and has exhausted its potential,” the statement said.

The agreement was signed on September 25, 2002. As part of the deal, the United States provided financial assistance to relevant Russian bodies for anticrime projects.

“The Russian Foreign Ministry has been instructed to notify the American side on the decision made,” according to the statement.

There was no immediate reaction from the U.S. authorities.

The Russian government's move comes amid deteriorating ties between the two countries over human rights. Last year, Washington angered the Russian government by implementing the Magnitsky Act, a law introducing sanctions against Russian officials suspected of human rights abuses that was named after Sergei Magnitsky, a whistleblowing lawyer who died in a Moscow jail in 2009.

Russia responded by banning U.S. citizens from adopting Russian children and prohibiting politically active Russian NGOs from accepting financing from the United States.