Obama signs Russia trade, human rights bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday signed into law a bill that modernizes U.S. trade relations with Russia by ending a Cold War-era provision, but also punishes Russian human rights violators.

Russia has objected strongly to the human rights component of the legislation named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian anti-corruption lawyer who died in 2009 in a Russian jail.

On Friday, the lower house of Russia's parliament gave preliminary approval to a tit-for-tat measure against U.S. human rights violators.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Will Dunham)