Posted on 12/02/2006 7:36:44 PM PST by jdm
Russian president Vladimir Putin has expressed his anger at Britain's failure to gag Alexander Litvinenko in the final hours of his life, the cabinet has been told.
Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, told ministers that the Russian government had “taken exception” to the poisoned former spy’s deathbed letter accusing the Putin regime of murdering him.
This weekend a potential suspect — Andrei Lugovoi — admitted he had been contaminated with the radioactive poison polonium-210 but insisted: “I’ve been framed.”
Beckett, who spoke to her Russian counterpart before Thursday’s cabinet meeting, said the Russians had “seemingly failed to understand” that Litvinenko was under police supervision rather than in custody.
Amid signs that his death could cause a diplomatic row, Tony Blair concluded the cabinet meeting by saying “the most important issue” was likely to be Britain’s long-term relationship with Moscow.
Another minister present said: “It caused some alarm that this case is obviously causing tension with the Russians. They are too important for us to fall out with them over this.”
Putin’s aides see Litvinenko’s letter, in which he described the Russian president as “barbaric and ruthless”, as a carefully orchestrated public relations stunt, timed to coincide with the leader’s appearance at the Russia-European Union summit in Helsinki.
Foreign Office officials yesterday confirmed the Russians had raised the issue of Litvinenko’s letter with Beckett and British diplomats. Until now, the government has admitted only that the Russians had agreed to assist Scotland Yard with its inquiries.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Hmmmmmmm...
ping
Well gee, Pootie, what'd you expect Blair to do? What're you gonna do, poison Tony now?
I guess he doesn't quite understand that that's not the way things work in a Western civilization, usually.
}:-)4
Ping
O.J. was pissed off at the media too. Tough.
I realize that there are theories that someone is trying to frame Putin...by getting Livinenko to think it was him...
But, still, the chilling part of this article is the part about how important Russia is to Britain...that they would seemingly rather look the other way...hmmmmm
barbari sunt, barbarice egit. ef them.
Poison is a coward's weapon. And now Putin's name is forever linked with it.
Well, duh: of course the guy poisoned himself with a very rare, 100% toxic substance merely so he could write a letter to make Putin look bad.
See, sleuthie, if we can just become important enough, we can become important and murder people with impunity. Simple, yes!
Putin will want to cover his tracks so the assassin is a loose end needing tied up.
Putin can’t afford to take the chance of the assassin’s capture or defection.
The lady protests too much...
Every tyrant appears untouchable until he falls...
"Tony Blair concluded the cabinet meeting by saying “the most important issue” was likely to be Britain’s long-term relationship with Moscow. "
Realpolitik.
I think the Russian’s notion is that the Brit’s arranged the letter’s release to coincide with Putin’s summit appearance to gain some political advantage.
The Russians of course think like Russians and assume everyone else does as well.
The Russians can not fathom that such a letter would be permitted to be published unless the Brit government wished it to be.
"The Russians can not fathom that such a letter would be permitted to be published unless the Brit government wished it to be."
no idea what british politics behind the letter's release or non-suppression are but I do distinctly recall Putin talking about bush 'firing' those CBS reporters a couple of years back after the fake memo scandal.
The guy is coming from a completely different perspective than anyone in the west can even comprehend on this stuff.
Putin is ex-KGB. He knows how to run operations like this. If there is anybody in the chain of command who Putin doesn't consider 100 percent reliable they are already dead.
Vlad Putin must need a wheelbarrow to haul his nuts in. Dudes got big ones.
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