Litvinenko case poisons UK-Russian relations
Britain's move to charge a Russian businessman for last year's murder of a Kremlin critic may affect cooperation on a range of international issues.
from the May 23, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
She notes that relations started to sour when Britain granted asylum to two men wanted for prosecution in Russia: the former Kremlin insider Boris Berezovsky and Akhmad Zakayev, a one-time Chechen rebel.
"The Russians are convinced that the West, and Britain in particular, is guilty of double standards, because we won't extradite the people they consider terrorists," she adds. "But there is no British court that would return Berezovsky, because there is no British court that would be convinced he would get a fair trial."
"The real problems," adds James Nixey, a Russia expert at the Chatham House think tank, "are in the newfound Sovietness of Russian foreign policy, a boorishness and confidence they have found based on a stronger economy that makes them feel more self-sufficient."
Litvinenko was a stern critic of the new Russia, a former KGB agent turned exile who argued that President Vladimir Putin blew up his own people to detonate a new war with Chechnya that would redouble his popularity. Weeks before he died, he began investigating the October 2006 murder of another Kremlin critic, investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. On his deathbed, he issued a statement directly implicating Putin in his murder.
Mr. Berezovsky told Echo Moscow radio that "charging Lugovoi means to charge Putin himself, since he is up to the hilt in these accusations."
Alex Goldfarb, a friend of Litvinenko's who is about to publish a book on his murder – "The Death of a Dissident" – says that Lugovoi, a businessman who Mr. Goldfarb claims is worth $30 million, was doing the Kremlin's bidding.
British police say the Russian left a trail of polonium in his wake at various points in London and Moscow, including a soccer stadium and a British Airways aircraft.
"He had no motive and no reason to kill, and he had no access to polonium. So there are some very powerful and resourceful people behind this," says Goldfarb. "He was acting on behalf of the Russian state, and they made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Every Russia businessman knows he is totally dependent on the Kremlin."
Goldfarb says he expects Britain to feel a backlash from Tuesday's move. "The British have proved in this case that for them principles are more important than their interests," he says, predicting that Moscow would reciprocate by "leaning on" British commercial and other interests in Russia.
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