![]() ![]() As one ex- KGB general pointed out, the Litvinenko affair also gives any successor to Mr Putin powerful leverage over him. Whether he knew about the plot to kill Litvinenko or not, the Kremlin's failure to co-operate with Britain's investigation, and the media support it has provided for Mr Lugovoi, have involved him in the case. The Kremlin will also be worried that the European Union and America have sided with Britain in its dispute with Russia.įor all his hard talk, Mr Putin finds himself in a difficult position. This may explain why Moscow chose to escalate the tit-for-tat by suspending the issuance of visas for British officials. What this means is that Russia may be more sensitive to Britain's other measure-tightening visa control for state officials-than to the expulsion of its diplomats. Although Britain may have limited political clout over Mr Putin, it provides an attractive lifestyle for hundreds of rich Russians, many of whom are linked with the Russian government. The Soviet elite did not own property in London, nor did they aspire to send their children to British public schools. But there is one big difference between Mr Putin and his Soviet predecessors. The world is regaining its familiar contours: there are enemies across the border and conspiracies to thwart Russia's influence. Russia may want deeper integration with the West-but only on its own terms. Russia's embrace of capitalism did not mean the adoption of other Western values. ![]() “The West does not understand how a country which aspires to be a member of international clubs such as the G8 can act against the other members of these clubs,” says Ms Shevtsova. As one Russian commentator has argued, in Mr Putin's view of the world-shaped by his KGB background-the independence of the courts, freedom of speech and the supremacy of individual rights or lives over state interests are a cover dreamt up by the West to disguise its real interests.īut the incomprehension is mutual. Russia has never accepted that Britain's refusal to extradite Mr Berezovsky was a legal rather than a political decision. Since Britain had refused to extradite Mr Berezovsky-as Russia demands, not least for his calls to overthrow Mr Putin-why should Russia hand over Mr Lugovoi? “The arguments used by the Kremlin are extra-judicial and they reveal an extra-judicial way of thinking,” says Lilia Shevtsova of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, a think-tank.Īt the core of the row lies the Kremlin's deep-rooted conviction that the rest of the world works in the same way as Russia, which is merely more honest and less artful in concealing its motives. Immediately after the CPS announced its intention to prosecute Mr Lugovoi, he was flaunted on Russian state-controlled television, alleging that Litvinenko was a British spy and was killed by MI6. It has portrayed the British charges as a politically motivated fabrication aimed at undermining Russia's reputation. Yet, at home, it has made it clear that the constitutional argument is no more than an excuse. The Kremlin's official line is that its constitution prevents it from handing over its citizens to other countries. David Miliband, Britain's new foreign secretary, told MPs this week that “the Russian government has failed to register either how seriously we treat this case or the seriousness of the issues involved.” Yet the Russians have refused to hand over Mr Lugovoi to stand trial and they have not offered a reasonable alternative such as an open international trial in Russia. One of its citizens has been assassinated and the use of radioactive material made the crime a threat to national security. The tough line taken by Gordon Brown, Britain's new prime minister, is a long way removed from Tony Blair's early attempts to win Mr Putin's friendship. Instead, the Litvinenko case has revealed a gaping cultural and political divide between the two countries. Moscow glistens with the bright lights of consumerism and Russian companies continue to queue up to list their shares on the London Stock Exchange. Communism is dead and Mr Putin has no intention of reviving it. ![]() Russia no longer has an ideology to export. This week the British police said he had been the target of a foiled assassination attempt.īut the parallels with the cold war are misleading. In the background lurks Boris Berezovsky, an oligarch who fell out with Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, and received asylum in Britain. ![]() The villain is Andrei Lugovoi, a fellow KGB veteran accused by Britain's Crown Prosecution Service ( CPS) of the crime. The victim was Alexander Litvinenko, an ex- KGB man who defected to Britain and was poisoned last year with polonium-210. The plot, the language and the characters appear to come straight out of the cold-war period. ![]()
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