Russia's latest reaction in the Moscow-London standoff is pointing to a stalemate
that is unlikely to be resolved soon. President Putin accused Britain of treating Russia like a colony, while Russian prosecutors said UK investigators had provided evidence that was full of holes regarding Andrei Lugovoi's involvement in the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. With the likelihood that either of the two sides will budge from their stances diminishing, it is becoming increasingly unclear what Britain was hoping to achieve by asking Russia to change its Constitution and extradite Lugovoi.
"They give us insulting advice on changing our constitution, it's their mindset that has to change, not our constitution,'' Putin told youth groups on Tuesday. "What they are proposing is a throwback to the colonial mindset. They forget that Britain is no longer a colonial power and that Russia was never their colony,'' he said in the televised address.
"A tragedy happened. Mr. Litvinenko died in London. They accuse one of our citizens, Mr. Lugovoi. They want us to extradite him there. But there are 30 people guilty of enormous offences whom our law enforcement agencies are seeking, and they are hiding there in London.
They don't even think of extraditing them. They've had the same problems, but to a lesser extent, with the United States, France and other countries. They've had similar problems but they never extradited people hiding on their territory, including people suspected and accused of terrorism. However, they place overstated claims on other countries including ours," Putin said.
By the end of last week it seemed Moscow and London were at least eager for reconciliation. "I'm sure that we will also be able to overcome this mini-crisis," Putin said last Thursday. But then British Ambassador Tony Brenton reiterated his stance on Lugovoi's extradition. "The Constitution of the Russian Federation allows for different interpretations, depending on the circumstances."
Speaking at a Monday press conference, Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Zvyagintsev called Great Britain's extradition demands "exceptionally ambitious and conceited."
Both Moscow and London expelled four diplomats, and - while the names of those expelled were not announced - it has become known that one of those being expelled is Andrew Levi, Britain's counselor for economic and scientific affairs in Russia. A senior Russian diplomat in London is also being expelled.
"The Russian side has a lot of basis to doubt the effectiveness of Britain's justice system," Zvyagintsev told journalists. He was particularly perplexed by the United Kingdom's demands that Russia change its Constitution to accommodate for the extradition.
Zvyagintsev added that not only has Britain refused to hand over exiled business tycoon Boris Berezovsky, but it has also "ignored" requests by Russian prosecutors investigating the Litvinenko poisoning to search the residences of Berezovsky and his partner Badri Patarkatsishvili, both of whom Litvinenko visited before he fell ill in November 2006.
Russian investigators have their own take on what might have happened to the former intelligence agent and his colleague, suspecting that it was not Lugovoi who poisoned Litvinenko, but Litvinenko who contaminated Lugovoi.
"British investigators are not giving any explanation to the fact that they could not find traces of polonium on the airplane that carried Lugovoi and Kovtun to London," said Andrei Mayorov, from the General Prosecutor's Office. "But traces were found in places where they had met with Litvinenko." On the other hand, "Lugovoi had gotten a SIM card and a phone card from Litvinenko, and these objects were uncovered to have traces of polonium," Mayorov said, concluding that British investigators treated their facts "selectively."
Mayorov said Russian investigators suspect that "Lugovoi [was] contaminated by polonium by Litvinenko, who was already contaminated." Litvinenko, in turn, could have been poisoned with the substance long before his meeting with them. Mayorov also said he couldn't rule out that Lugovoi and Kovtun could have been poisoned by a "third person."
With relations between Moscow and London at a critical level, experts hardly knew what to make of the downward spiral.
On the one hand, Britain "could not fail to react to the nuclear [chaos] that took place in its capital," Sergei Markov, a chairman of the Public Chamber's Commission on International Cooperation, told The Moscow News.
On the other hand, to demand that Russia change its Constitution, "a person must be either stupid, or be under the impression that Russia is a colony of Great Britain." He added that he was no longer certain that UK officials knew in advance that Russia would refuse to extradite Lugovoi; if they did, their actions resembled "an internal PR campaign," possibly connected to Britain's new government, and to last month's ascension of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister.
Others say that Britain's demands are too murky for the conflict to be resolved anytime soon. "I can't understand whether this is just a cynical provocation, or whether Britain is sincere," Ivan Safranchuk, director of the World Security Institute in Russia, told The Moscow News. "Because Britain's motives are so hard to read, it's difficult to get out of this situation." He added that a "cynical provocation" would be easier to deal with than if Britain was indeed displaying the kind of colonial mindset Putin spoke of. Either way, he said, it is up to Britain to signal what exactly it is trying to achieve in order for headway to be made in the row.
By Anna Arutunyan
