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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
 Posted: 16-07-2007 22:53 Post subject: |
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Wow! Brown kicks arse!
(Can't imagine Blair doing this, he just sucked up to everyone.)
Let's hope it doesn't backfire..... |
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WhistlingJack Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Total posts: 4298 Location: The Sewers of The Strand Age: 9 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 18-07-2007 12:27 Post subject: Europeans Lukewarm as Britain Tries to Rally Support In Row |
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| Quote: | Europeans lukewarm as Britain tries to rally support in row with Russia
· German officials suggest UK has overreacted
· Only France offers strong support over extradition
Julian Borger, Luke Harding and David Gow
Wednesday July 18, 2007
Guardian
The furious diplomatic row between Britain and Russia spilled into Europe yesterday as Britain looked for solidarity from its EU partners and Russia warned them not to get involved.
Britain failed to win the immediate, concerted response it was seeking. The Foreign Office had wanted a quick statement from the Portuguese, who hold the EU presidency, that would express a united European position denouncing Moscow for its lack of cooperation over the Litvinenko murder inquiry. But late yesterday the Portuguese prime minister, Jose Socrates, had been unable to find a consensus among his fellow leaders.
A statement may come today, but the delay may have weakened its impact.
Meanwhile, the Portuguese foreign minister, Luis Amado, repeatedly emphasised that the matter was "a bilateral issue" between Britain and Russia.
The French offered particularly vocal support, but German foreign ministry officials reportedly believed Britain had overreacted by expelling four diplomats. Several other European leaders were waiting for the Russian response before committing themselves.
That response was put off yesterday, but Russia vowed that when its answer came it would be "targeted and appropriate". Russia's deputy foreign minister, Alexander Grushkov, said Moscow would "soon" inform the UK of its counter-measures but added that any Russian response would take into account the interests of ordinary British tourists and businessmen.
The Russian ambassador to London, Yuri Fedotov, said a response would "take time", explaining: "We are serious people."
In his remarks, Mr Grushkov hinted that Russia would seek to isolate Gordon Brown's government from its EU partners, a technique Moscow has successfully employed over energy and gas supplies.
Mr Grushkov said Britain was exploiting the murder of Alexander Litvinenko for its own selfish and "unilateralist" reasons.
He said: "Britain will appeal to EU solidarity. We hope that commonsense will prevail within the EU and that its members will not give in to attempts to turn relations between Russia and the EU into a tool to achieve unilateral political goals. These have nothing in common with EU and Russia's real partnership interests."
The foreign secretary, David Miliband is due to meet his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner, today to press Britain's case, and has already secured strong French support in the effort to secure the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, the former KGB agent accused of poisoning Alexander Litvinenko in London with radioactive polonium-210. Mr Kouchner's spokeswoman said yesterday: "The murder of a British national on his home soil, using a substance that put at risk the lives of thousands of others is a particularly serious matter. Given the gravity of the matter, we stand alongside the United Kingdom in its concern that justice be done."
"We call on Moscow to respond to the demands of British justice in a constructive manner ... so that the perpetrators of this crime are brought to justice and punished."
However, the German response was far more guarded. Gordon Brown met the chancellor, Angela Merkel, on Monday in Berlin, and repeated Britain's call for "action has to be taken" on Mr Lugovoi's extradition, but Chancellor Merkel's response was reported to be lukewarm.
According to European diplomatic sources, the German foreign ministry believes the expulsion of four diplomats and the freezing of bilateral negotiations on visas was a British overreaction.
Europe's biggest economy has the most to lose from a general deterioration of EU-Russian relations. Russia views Germany as its most important economic partner and trade between the two rose 37.7% last year to €53.5bn, with German exports up 35%. Energy drives the Russo-German relationship, with Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled gas giant, supplying around 40% of Germany's needs.
Mr Miliband will try to drum up more European backing at a foreign ministers meeting in Brussels next week, but observers warned that, barring an overwhelming and disproportionate Russian response, it would be hard to forge a consensus.
Katinka Barysch, deputy director of the London-based Centre for European reform, said: "At some point the EU needs to stand up and say: 'Russia can do whatever it wants in Russia but on our territory you have to play by our rules'."
Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that Britain had been less successful than Russia in convincing its European partners of the merits of its case. "Quite a lot of people are convinced by the Russian argument that we lecture them about the rule of law and now we're asking them to overrule their own constitution," he said.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 |
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| coldelephant |
| Posted: 18-07-2007 13:10 Post subject: |
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I have no idea why Brown would ask the EU to endorse or support his decision re the extradition of the Russian intelligence officers.
Why would the EU endorse/support any decision the UK makes? |
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
| Posted: 18-07-2007 20:25 Post subject: |
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| coldelephant wrote: | I have no idea why Brown would ask the EU to endorse or support his decision re the extradition of the Russian intelligence officers.
Why would the EU endorse/support any decision the UK makes? |
Quite!
I've been banging on about this for some time here:
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22226
The EU just wants to absorb Britain, like a spider absrbs the juices of a fly...  |
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| WhistlingJack Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Total posts: 4298 Location: The Sewers of The Strand Age: 9 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 19-07-2007 15:02 Post subject: Russia Expels Four British Diplomats |
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| Quote: | Russia expels four British diplomats
Thu Jul 19, 2007 2:13PM BST
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday it would expel four British diplomats from Moscow, retaliating for Britain's decision earlier this week to send home four Russian diplomats.
Foreign Ministry chief spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said the British ambassador had been handed a note earlier "in connection with the unfriendly actions of Britain towards Russia".
"He was given an official note declaring four British embassy staff in Moscow are now persona non grata and they should leave the territory of the Russian Federation within 10 days," Kamynin added.
He did not identify the diplomats.
The row, which has chilled relations between the two former Cold War foes to their frostiest since the fall of the Soviet Union, was prompted by Russia's refusal to extradite a murder suspect to face trial in London.
Kamynin also told reporters that Moscow would stop issuing visas for British officials and that recent British government statements made continued cooperation impossible with London in the war on terror.
© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. |
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| WhistlingJack Joined: 29 Oct 2003 Total posts: 4298 Location: The Sewers of The Strand Age: 9 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 23-07-2007 13:24 Post subject: UK Is Attacked In Litvinenko Row |
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| Quote: | UK is attacked in Litvinenko row
A senior Russian official has attacked the UK's decision to expel four Russian diplomats as "groundless, inappropriate, unjustified".
The Russian prosecutor general's office said the UK's decision over the expulsions was politically motivated.
The UK expelled the four after Russia refused to extradite Andrei Lugovoi - accused of killing ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London.
Prosecutor Alexander Zvyagintsev said the refusal was "on the basis of law".
Under the European Convention on Extradition 1957, Russia has the right to refuse the extradition of a citizen, and its constitution expressly forbids it.
Mr Zvyagintsev also said in a press conference that the Russians had "grounds to doubt the objectivity of the British justice system".
"There is no evidence in the materials provided by Britain that there was an objective investigation of the Litvinenko case by Scotland Yard," he added.
Russian prosecutors would open a case against Lugovoi if there was evidence to support such an investigation, he said.
Mr Zvyagintsev said he had not ruled out the involvement of "persons from Litvinenko's closest London circle".
Last week, four Russian embassy staff were expelled from the UK after the British extradition request was refused.
That prompted Moscow to retaliate by asking British embassy staff to leave within 10 days.
Mr Litvinenko, who had taken UK citizenship, died of exposure to radioactive polonium-210 in London in November 2006.
Traces of the radioactive isotope were found in several places visited by Mr Lugovoi, who denies any involvement in Mr Litvinenko's death.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2007/07/23 10:25:03 GMT
© BBC MMVII |
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| ted_bloody_maul Great Old One Joined: 23 May 2003 Total posts: 4877 Location: Quester's Psykick Dancehall Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 16-09-2007 16:11 Post subject: |
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Russia suspect running to be MP
A Russian businessman wanted in Britain on suspicion of murdering Alexander Litvinenko says he will stand for election to the Russian parliament.
Andrei Lugovoi denies any involvement in former Russian agent Mr Litvinenko's death from poisoning in London in November 2006.
He has said he will run for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) of the Russian nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
If elected in December, Mr Lugovoi would get immunity from prosecution.
"I confirm LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky's announcement that I have agreed to join the party's electoral list," Mr Lugovoi told Interfax agency on Sunday.
Strenuous denials
He said he profoundly respected Mr Zhirinovsky and his party.
"But I will be ready to comment only after the party congress which I will attend," Mr Lugovoi added.
Mr Zhirinovsky announced on Saturday Mr Lugovoi would feature in second place on the LDPR list, offering him an eligible position if the party crosses the electoral threshold of 7% in parliamentary elections scheduled for 2 December, Russian media say.
Mr Litvinenko, a former intelligence official and a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin who had taken refuge in Britain, was given a fatal dose of radioactive polonium-210 and died in London last November.
Britain has demanded the extradition of Mr Lugovoi, a former KGB agent, who attended a meeting with Mr Litvinenko on 1 November.
Russia has refused the demand and Mr Lugovoi has strenuously denied any involvement in Mr Litvinenko's death. |
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| rynner Location: Still above sea level Gender: Male |
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| ted_bloody_maul Great Old One Joined: 23 May 2003 Total posts: 4877 Location: Quester's Psykick Dancehall Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 07-07-2008 22:47 Post subject: |
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Russia 'backed Litvinenko murder'
The murder of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko was carried out with the backing of the Russian state, Whitehall sources have told the BBC.
A senior security official has told Newsnight there are "very strong indications it was a state action".
Mr Litvinenko, who was a fierce critic of former Russian President Vladimir Putin, was poisoned in London in 2006.
UK investigators suspect former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi of the murder, but he has always denied any involvement.
The BBC has been told that Russia's internal security organisation, the FSB, operated under Mr Putin with far more autonomy than the organisations usually entrusted with foreign espionage operations.
Our source said: "We very strongly believe the Litvinenko case to have had some state involvement."
Newsnight has also learned that officers at MI5 believe they thwarted an attempt last summer to kill another Russian dissident, Boris Berezovsky.
The BBC's source said the Berezovsky incident showed "continued FSB willingness to consider operations against people in the West".
And they claimed the targeting of Russian government critics in the UK had serious diplomatic repercussions, saying: "[It] messes up the relationship big time."
In November, head of MI5 Jonathan Evans expressed concern that there had been "no decrease" in the number of Russian covert intelligence officers operating in the UK since the end of the Cold War.
The service believes there are around 30 operating from Russian diplomatic missions here.
In May 2007, the Crown Prosecution Service formally submitted an extradition request to Moscow for Mr Lugovoi to stand trial in Britain.
That request remains current, but Russia has refused to cooperate saying it would be against its constitution to do so.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is thought to have raised the case as he held his first face-to-face talks with new Russian president Dmitry Medvedev at the G8 summit in Japan.
Newsnight's report on the story can be seen on BBC2 at 2230 BST on 7 July
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7494142.stm |
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JamesWhitehead Piffle Prospector Joined: 02 Aug 2001 Total posts: 5779 Location: Manchester, UK Gender: Male |
| Posted: 08-07-2008 01:15 Post subject: |
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Who cares? His family maybe. It was a horrible death. He was a player in dangerous games. No clear enough moral to be learned. Leave it alone and move on.  |
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| Zilch5 Vogon Poet
Great Old One Joined: 08 Nov 2007 Total posts: 1527 Location: Western Sydney, Australia Gender: Male |
| Posted: 09-10-2013 02:44 Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Bad Blood: The Life And Death Of Alexander Litvinenko
Screen Shot 2013-10-08 at 11.17.25
First published six months ago behind a pay wall, now ungated, and a good thing too. A gripping account of how Russian secret agents killed Litvinenko, a KGB defector, in London in 2006, using polonium-210, a radioactive poison so esoteric that it took scientists more than a month to work out what it was — by which time Litvinenko was dead. The man who probably led the hit squad has since become a top Russian politician (8,892 words)
https://www.readmatter.com/a/bad-blood-the-life-and-death-of-alexander-litvinenko/ |
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| Spookdaddy Cuckoo Joined: 24 May 2006 Total posts: 3923 Location: Midwich Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 09-10-2013 09:08 Post subject: |
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| Written, in his simple but very effective and readable style, by Will Storr - who may be well known to some of us for, Will Storr Vs the Supernatural. |
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