Obama enacts Magnitsky Act

US President Barack Obama has signed off on the controversial bill to scrap the Jackson-Vanik amendment and impose financial and travel sanctions on Russian officials who were allegedly involved in the prison death of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

President Barack Obama Friday signed legislation granting normal trade relations to Russia, which angered Moscow by including sanctions targeting alleged Russian human rights abusers.

Obama signed the bill into law a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the so-called Magnitsky Act, which blacklists Russian officials allegedly implicated in the prison death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.