NPR

What Really Irritates Vladimir Putin? The Magnitsky Act

The U.S. law bans Russian human rights abusers from entering the U.S. The Russian president has railed against it since Congress passed it in 2012. The act now features in the Russia investigation.

If you're not familiar with the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 U.S. law, here's the most important thing to understand: Russian President Vladimir Putin and everyone in his orbit hates it.

"A purely political, unfriendly act," Putin called it at the time, and he's been railing against it ever since.

Congress wanted to punish Russian human rights abusers by barring them from

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