Russia expels British diplomats in tit-for-tat row
Russia expelled four British diplomats on Thursday in a row over a high-profile murder inquiry as President Vladimir Putin played down the spat with London as a "mini-crisis" that would be overcome.
Russia also announced a ban on visas for visiting British government officials and the suspension of counter-terrorism cooperation with London, saying it had been provoked by Britain.
But Putin sought to brush aside the row as a "mini-crisis" that would be overcome, calling on Britain to show "common sense" and respect Russia's "legitimate rights and interests."
"I think British-Russian relations will develop normally. We are interested in the development of relations both from the Russian side and from the British," Putin said on the sidelines of an ethnic festival in western Russia.
"I am sure that this mini-crisis will be overcome," he added.
The row erupted after Russia last week refused to extradite the man British police suspect of the poisoning death late last year of former Russian agent and fierce Kremlin critic, Alexander Litvinenko, in London.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Monday ordered the expulsion of four Russian diplomats and announced unspecified visa restrictions on Russian government officials in response to Russia's stance.
On Thursday he described the measures unveiled by Moscow as "completely unjustified" and criticised Russia's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB bodyguard.
Russia had warned that Britain's decision to expel its diplomats would have "the most serious consequences" on Russian-British relations.
Analysts said the dispute was reminiscent of Cold War stand-offs.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday Russia had seen no proof from Britain to support claims that Lugovoi poisoned Litvinenko.
"We haven't received a single paper which would explain to us how the British investigators arrived at this conclusion", he said through a translator after a meeting of the Middle East Quartet in Lisbon.
Lavrov suggested London's response was exuberance on the part of new Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government, which is less than a month old.
The United States said Russia's decision to suspend counter-terrorism cooperation with Britain was not a "positive" step.
"I don't think that it would be helpful or positive for them to take such a step," said Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman, commenting on the counter-terrorism cooperation freeze.
"It's also clear, too, that Russia, which is under threat of terrorism as much as any other country in the world, needs to be a full and cooperative partner with the United States, with the United Kingdom and with other international actors in that fight," he told reporters.
The United States and European Union have thrown their weight behind London in the crisis, with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday calling on Moscow to extradite Lugovoi.
"Russia should honour the extradition request and Russia should cooperate fully," Rice told Britain's Sky News television.
"A terrible crime was committed on British soil and Britain has to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice," she said.
The EU's Portuguese presidency on Wednesday voiced "disappointment" with Russia and called on Moscow to cooperate with the British investigation. France earlier expressed full solidarity with Britain.
Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's EU representative, described the EU statement as "an unpleasant surprise" and said it would "certainly affect" relations between Moscow and Brussels.
Lavrov and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier were due to meet in Berlin on Friday to discuss the diplomatic row.
The Russian constitution forbids Russia from extraditing its own citizens, but Britain insists that Moscow could hand over Lugovoi under the terms of an international convention it has signed.
Litvinenko died last November after being poisoned with a highly radioactive isotope, polonium-210.
Before he died, the former agent apparently dictated a letter accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind his murder.
The Kremlin has fiercely rejected the charges as "preposterous."
Lugovoi, the suspect at the centre of the row, has also denied any role in the murder. He has claimed that the British secret service and fugitive Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky were involved.
On Wednesday, British police confirmed that they had arrested and deported a man over an alleged plot to murder Berezovsky.
Alexander Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, warned that the dispute could deter Russian companies from listing on the London Stock Exchange, RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Dozens of Russian companies have listed in London in recent years, raising billions of dollars (euros). They might now be tempted by other European stock exchanges, said Shokhin.
Whether or not Russia is responsible for the death of ex spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko, the British press on Friday criticised Moscow for the culture of silencing dissidents both at home and overseas.
The Financial Times said in its editorial column that the "blame for deterioriating east-west relations lies largely with Russia."
"It bullies its neighbours ... And it puts extreme pressure on its political opponents -- at home and abroad."
The paper said Putin "cannot be held criminally responsible for Alexander Litvinenko's grisly death. But he is morally responsible for creating an atmosphere in which political scores are settled by murder."
It called for Moscow to implement "fundamental changes in Russia's approach to the world."
The Times, meanwhile, described the Russian counter-measures as "destructive" and said that if "both sides are to limit the fallout of the Litvinenko affair, there must be a clear understanding in Moscow of the anger in Britain at what has happened."
"It is clear that Mr Putin must do much more to crack down on ... lawlessness.
"Britain still wants to do business with Russia; Moscow must show that, despite the expulsions, it is ready to do business with the modern world."
The Sun tabloid, Britain's best-read daily, described Russia's decision as a "climbdown", and asked: "Did Vladimir Putin just blink?"
"For all its new-found oil wealth, Russia knows it cannot export state oppression without consequences.
"It needs foreign investment -- and that requires respectability. It won't get either if it sends assassins around the world to rub out Putin's critics."
AFP
