On March 11th 2013, Pat Breen opened a four-page letter from Maxim Peshkov, the Russian ambassador to Ireland.  The letter was hand delivered, that is what Breen remembers, nine years later.  As the chair of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Fine Gael TD had been working with its members on passing a motion to recommend the Irish government introduce the Magnitsky Act, which would name the officials involved in the murder of Sergei Magnitsky, a young Russian lawyer, freeze their assets and issue visa bans.  While the world has become au fait with sanctions on Russian…

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