Putin calls US 'imperial' over Magnitsky case

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Thursday of attempting to prove it was “the toughest” by adopting a law introducing sanctions against Russian officials suspected of human rights abuses.

Speaking at a live Q&A session with the Russian public, Putin said the adoption by the United States late last year of the Magnitsky Act, named after a whistleblowing Muscovite lawyer who died in police custody in 2009, was evidence of Washington’s “imperial behavior,” RIA-Novosti reports.