The Kremlin won’t budge if we don’t hand over Berezovsky, says philip jacobson |
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The latest round in the bruising confrontation between Britain and Russia over the extradition of the ex-KGB agent accused of poisoning Alexander Litvinenko with radioactive polonium-210 is threatening to plunge relations between the two countries back into the era of the cold war.
Yesterday's expulsion of four diplomats from the Russian embassy in London, the first time since 1996 that this ultimate sanction has been used by Britain, is certain to provoke a tit-for-tat response from Moscow.
The government's fury at the refusal of its request for the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi (right), recently named as chief suspect in the Litvinenko killing, was reflected in the tough words of the new Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, who told the House of Commons that "the heinous crime of murder requires justice". The expulsions are intended to |
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| Putin has made it clear that no deal over Lugovoi is possible without Berezovsky being sent back for trial |
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signal Britain's determination to put Lugovoi on trial in the UK, despite Moscow's repeated claims that the Russian constitution prohibits the extradition of its own citizens.
As The First Post has previously reported, Vladmir Putin has made it abundantly clear that no compromise over Lugovoi is possible without the exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky - wanted for money laundering in Russia and recently accused of plotting a coup against Putin - being sent back for trial.
British concerns he could not expect a fair hearing cut no ice with a president who is becoming steadily more aggressive in the pursuit of national interests (last weekend Putin suspended Russian obligations under a treaty limiting conventional forces in Europe).
Whatever the "most serious consequences" threatened by Russia after the expulsions turn out to be - there are growing fears that the flourishing economic relationship could be hit by sanctions against British companies - Gordon Brown should buckle his seat belt for what seems sure to be a rocky ride.
FIRST POSTED JULY 17, 2007
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