The Russian Graduate

Michael A. McFaul - Jackson-Vanik -- as currently constituted -- no longer addresses these new strains of democratic infringements. It is time for Congress to "graduate" Russia from Jackson-Vanik -- while at the same time initiating new legislation to deal with these new forms of abuse. The moment for action is the May summit between Presidents Bush and Vladimir Putin. The Jackson-Vanik amendment is obsolete for several reasons. First, there is little evidence to suggest that the current Russian state restricts Jewish emigration. Thirty years ago, the Soviet state imposed all kinds of draconian rules and regulations to prevent Jewish emigration, and viciously punished those Jews who even applied to leave. Today Jews living in Russia must endure several new threats, but state-sponsored restriction on travel is not one of them.