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British Diplomats Expelled in Russian Tit-for-Tat
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Retaliation follows Russian diplomats’ ejection from Britain, as the U.K. government pressures the Kremlin to hand over the suspected assassin in the radiation poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.
30-Second Summary
On July 19, four British diplomats in Russia were declared persona non grata––officially no longer welcome in the country. They have 10 days to leave.
In addition, U.K. government officials traveling to Russia will face more stringent visa requirements.
These moves emulate the British government’s actions taken three days earlier, when Downing Street expelled four Russian diplomats.
“From now on we shall act in a mirror-like fashion in regard to all visa-related issues,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said. In addition, Kamynin stated that co-operation with Britain “in the field of fighting terrorism is impossible.”
This chain of events began with Britain’s pressuring the Kremlin to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, whom the U.K. police suspect of killing Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko last year. Litvinenko died after ingesting a radioactive isotope put in his tea. Hundreds of Londoners subsequently feared radiation poisoning, and a number of sites in the capital later tested positive for radiation.
Moscow says that such an extradition runs counter to the Russian constitution, and has offered to try Lugovoi on native soil.
These developments come at a time when relations between Russia and the West are at their worst since the Cold War.
In addition, U.K. government officials traveling to Russia will face more stringent visa requirements.
These moves emulate the British government’s actions taken three days earlier, when Downing Street expelled four Russian diplomats.
“From now on we shall act in a mirror-like fashion in regard to all visa-related issues,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said. In addition, Kamynin stated that co-operation with Britain “in the field of fighting terrorism is impossible.”
This chain of events began with Britain’s pressuring the Kremlin to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, whom the U.K. police suspect of killing Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko last year. Litvinenko died after ingesting a radioactive isotope put in his tea. Hundreds of Londoners subsequently feared radiation poisoning, and a number of sites in the capital later tested positive for radiation.
Moscow says that such an extradition runs counter to the Russian constitution, and has offered to try Lugovoi on native soil.
These developments come at a time when relations between Russia and the West are at their worst since the Cold War.
Headline
Moscow announced the expulsion of four British diplomats on July 19. “It is necessary to measure one’s actions against common sense, respect the legitimate interests of partners, and everything will be all right,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told Reuters. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice requested Russia’s “full cooperation” in the British police inquiry.
Source: The International Herald Tribune
On May 26, 2007, six months after Russian exile Alexander Litvinenko died in London of radiation poisoning, Britain charged ex-Russian secret serviceman Andrei Lugovoi with his murder and applied for his extradition.
Source: FindingDulcinea.com: Extradition Demanded in Litvinenko Poisoning
Reference Material
Although the dramatic style of Litvinenko's assassination might seem to rule out Kremlin involvement, experts say that polonium would only be available to a state-sponsored agent. A Fulbright scholar studying nuclear proliferation in Moscow has produced a summary of the technical difficulties of polonium poisoning.
Source: ArmsControWonk.com
A round-up of its Russian news coverage, as well as special reports on Russian issues and history, has been compiled by British newspaper The Guardian.
Source: The Guardian
Key Players
Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Litvinenko was a Russian émigré granted asylum in the U.K. He reportedly fell out with Vladimir Putin when the Russian president was head of the Russian secret service, the FSB (formerly known as the KGB). Putin accused Litvinenko, then an FSB agent, of failing to crack down on corruption. As an exile, Litvinenko was a vocal critic of the Kremlin. He accused Putin of masterminding the 1999 apartment-block bombings in Russia that killed more than 300 people. The Kremlin subsequently blamed those terrorist attacks on Chechen separatists. Before he died, Litvinenko read a statement naming the Russian president as the man responsible for his murder.
Source: The BBC
Andrei Lugovoi
Like Litvinenko, Andrei Lugovoi was an ex-Russian secret agent, as detailed in this profile of his career. He was admitted to hospital shortly after his return to Moscow last November, after meeting with Litvinenko. Lugovoi refused to say what was wrong with him. But he was kept in an isolation unit, and there has been much speculation that he was treated for radiation sickness.
Source: The BBC
Boris Berezovsky
Litvinenko was helped to establish a new life in England by fellow Russian dissident and Putin opponent Boris Berezovsky, a businessman who openly claims his commitment to bringing down the Russian president. Berezovsky chose self-imposed exile in 2000 after surviving numerous assassination attempts. He claims Putin masterminded Litvinenko’s death, whereas the Kremlin accuses Berezovsky of arranging the murder.
Source: The BBC
In June, Berezovsky left Britain for a month after the British secret service warned him of the arrival of a Russian assassin employed to kill him.
Source: The Internation Herald Tribune
President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin was born in 1952 in Leningrad. For almost two decades, he worked in the KGB, the Russian secret service, which became the FSB after the fall of the Soviet Union. Putin won his first presidential election in 1999 and is now serving his second term as president.
Source: The Kremlin
In January, Putin denied that Litvinenko had access to state secrets. The Russian president said that Litvinenko's exile from Russia was self-imposed and apolitical: "He was prosecuted for abuse of power, in particular for beating up detainees ... and for stealing explosives."
Source: RIA Novosti
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
The 56-year-old son of a Scottish minister, Brown went to Edinburgh University at only 16 and left with one of the best degrees in decades. He became an MP in 1983 and Chancellor of the Exchequer, the term for the British cabinet minister for finance, on May 2, 1997.
The 56-year-old son of a Scottish minister, Brown went to Edinburgh University at only 16 and left with one of the best degrees in decades. He became an MP in 1983 and Chancellor of the Exchequer, the term for the British cabinet minister for finance, on May 2, 1997.
Number 10 Downing Street is the prime minister’s official home, the U.K. equivalent of the White House. Among much else, the Downing Street site offers video footage of Brown’s first speech and a biography of the new prime minister.
Source: 10 Downing Street
Years of waiting ended for Gordon Brown on June 27, 2007, when he and his wife, Sarah, greeted the press from the steps of 10 Downing Street, the traditional home of the British prime minister. Brown had been finance minister for just over 10 years, since the Labour Party came to power in 1997.
Source: FindingDulcinea.com: Blair Stands Down, Brown Steps In
Background
The left-of-center British Sunday newspaper The Observer published this long investigative piece on the accusations that the Kremlin is assassinating journalists. The article includes an interview with the Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who was granted asylum in the United Kingdom and is an archenemy of Putin as well as associate of Litvinenko.
Source: PrisonPlanet.com
History
The Litvinenko case has brought back memories of the 1978 assassination of the writer, broadcaster, and Soviet dissident Georgi Markov. He died after being stabbed by a poisoned umbrella at a London bus stop. In 2005, leaked documents showed that the assassin was an agent in the Bulgarian equivalent of the KGB. At that time, Bulgaria was a Communist state.
Source: The BBC
Opinion
“One of the most serious mistakes that George W. Bush and Tony Blair made was their belief that Vladimir Putin was a man they could do business with,” writes James Forsyth of U.K. magazine The Spectator. In this article, written between the expulsion of the Russian diplomats and the Kremlin’s response, Forsyth praises British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s uncompromising stance. “The Putin government will undoubtedly escalate this crisis,” he writes.
Source: The Spectator
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Bret Stephens finds the key to events in the words of Russian foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin. “I don’t understand the position of the British Government,” Mr. Kamynin is quoted as saying. “It is prepared to sacrifice our relations in trade and education for the sake of one man.” Kamynin’s bafflement expresses a failure to comprehend the basis of democracy, the importance of individual rights, according to Stephens, a shortcoming indicative of problems within the Russian government.
Source: The Wall Street Journal (registration may be required)
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