Posted on 07/17/2007 7:48:44 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Russia vows response to UK expulsions
By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer
18 minutes ago
Russia on Tuesday vowed a "targeted and appropriate" response to Britain's expulsion of four diplomats in a mounting confrontation over the probe into the radiation poisoning death of a former KGB officer.
Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko criticized Britain for demanding the extradition of the key suspect in the killing of Alexander Litvinenko, emphasizing that Russia's constitituion forbids it, and urged other European nations not to gang up against the Kremlin.
The dispute could derail recent American efforts to ease increasing tension between Russia and the West, and holds implications for crucial issues like energy security and the nuclear standoff with Iran.
Britain decided to throw out four diplomats and place restrictions on visas for Russian officials in response to the Kremlin's refusal to hand over Andrei Lugovoi for prosecution the November killing of Litvinenko in London.
Grushko said Russia would inform Britain very soon of its response, but did not say what it would be.
"Our reaction will be targeted and appropriate, and the British authorities will be officially informed of this in the nearest future," Grushko told reporters. He said Moscow would take care that tourists, business people and other "everyday citizens" with ties to Britain would not be affected.
As President Vladimir Putin and other have done, Grushko railed against Britain for demanding Lugovoi's extradition, accusing Britain of "trying to punish (Russia) for abiding by its own consitution."
He said Britain's position would make cooperation between the nations' law enforcement bodies difficult if not impossible.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman, Michael Ellam, declined to say Tuesday whether Britain would consider further punitive measures against Russia if Lugovoi is not extradited.
Ellam said Brown had not made contact with Putin or other Russian officials, but that Miliband had spoken Monday afternoon with his counterpart at the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Mikhail Margelov, head of the international affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, expressed the hope that relations do not sour further.
"Russia-British relations have a centuries-long history, and it would be stupid to overshadow them by a distrust toward Russia's law, jurisdiction and constitution," Interfax quoted him as saying.
Viktor Kremenyuk, deputy director of the Institute of USA and Canada Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said he would advise the Kremlin not to escalate the conflict by responding with more expulsions or other sanctions. He also questioned why the British government has taken the case so far.
"I cannot understand why the British government has decided to turn this more or less usual criminal case into a political one," Kremenyuk said in an interview. "Why does one former KGB officer killing another deserve this attention?"
Lugovoi, also a former KGB officer, gave a television interview Tuesday in which he said Britain had provoked the diplomatic conflict.
"The British officials have backed themselves into a corner by proposing to extradite me, although it was obviously prohibited by the (Russian) Constitution," he said on Russia Today, an English-language satellite channel under Kremlin control.
Izvestia, a daily newspaper loyal to the Kremlin, announced in a front-page headline that "the new British prime minister has declared a diplomatic and visa war on Russia."
Nezavisimaya Gazeta said that British investment in Russia in 2006 amounted to $3.3 billion and was expected to double this year. "Looks like Russia and Britain have something to lose," the paper said.
Bring it on, Pootie.
I don’t think I would consider polonium poisoning a “more or less usual crime”.
That would be too funny for words if it weren’t so brutal. Maybe something was lost in the translation.
sky news are reporting that 80 uk diplomats might be expelled.
COLD WAR II
BRING IT ON!
sky news are reporting that 80 uk diplomats might be expelled.
COLD WAR II
BRING IT ON!
“targeted and appropriate” response is to expel 80 UK diplomats, what is over-the-top response? Blowing up British Embassy in UK? :-)
“Why does one former KGB officer killing another deserve this attention?”
I’m not sure Putin should be comfortable with that assessment!
And DU's favorite Commie knows that.
“I cannot understand why the British government has decided to turn this more or less usual criminal case into a political one,” Kremenyuk said in an interview. “Why does one former KGB officer killing another deserve this attention?”
Yeah, those crazy Brits, what are they thinking trying to investigate and prosecute a murder that occured on their soil, since it involves two Russians?
Well I’m not seriously suggesting it, but it is the glaring flaw in Kremenyuk’s comment!
The Old Soviet Guard rears its head...
There are no longer any non-government controled TV stations in Russia. Litvinenko and his friends, Berezovsky et al., were the last holdouts against Putin’s takeover of the temporarily ‘democratic’ Russia.
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