In a sign that the Russia-UK rift may not run as deep as it seemed, Britain's Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks visited North Western Russia this week as part of a joint program on improving nuclear security. The visit came just as Russian authorities added new charges to Boris Berezovsky, whom Britain has refused to extradite.
Following a stop in St. Petersburg on Monday, Wicks went on to Murmansk's Andreyeva Bay, a former naval base holding some 30 tons of spent nuclear fuel. Britain is funding infrastructure to handle the spent fuel safely.
The three-day visit, planned long ahead of last week's diplomatic row between London and Moscow, ended Wednesday, when Wicks met with St. Petersburg Deputy Governor Polukeyev to discuss energy issues, crisis management and Russian-British business links.
Britain and Russia had exchanged four diplomats following Russia's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, wanted by UK authorities for the alleged poisoning of former Russian intelligence agent Alexander Litvinenko. The Russian side had also announced a halt in joint anti-terrorism cooperation.
But this week's visit focusing on nuclear security went on as planned, embassy officials told The Moscow News. Britain's involvement is part of the UK Threat Reduction Program, established by Global Partnership, set up in 2002 by G-8 leaders, including Russia.
In another development linked to UK-Russia relations, Boris Berezovsky, the exiled oligarch Britain has refused to extradite despite repeated Russian requests since 2002, was slapped with another in absentia charge by Moscow's Basmanny Court on Monday. Already accused of some 10 charges involving fraud and attempts to organize an armed uprising, Moscow prosecutors added another charge of embezzling some $13 million from the SBS-Argo bank, Berezovsky's lawyer, Andrei Borovkov, told news agencies.
The Basmanny Court moved to sequester real estate property on France's Mediterranean coast, believed to have been bought by Berezovsky using the embezzled funds. There were no reports whether Russian authorities had requested French officials to seize the property. An in absentia hearing has been scheduled for August 7.
Meanwhile, it became apparent this week that some in Britain are beginning to question why authorities insist on protecting Berezovsky despite the row over Russia's refusal to extradite Lugovoi. An editorial in the London Times newspaper suggested that Berezovsky was actually an "embarrassment" to Britain that London should stop trusting. "When, further, it emerges that an attempt on his life has apparently been made we unquestioningly accept this as fact, as if real life in 2007 does in fact exactly mirror the plot of an Ian Fleming novel," Stephanie Marsh wrote in the Op-Ed column entitled "Berezovsky is playing us, and it's embarrassing." "Why do we in Britain think that Berezovsky is in any position to foment this revolution of his?" she added.
By Anna Arutunyan
