Russia vows proper response: Expulsion of diplomats
MOSCOW, July 17: Russia promised on Tuesday an “adequate and appropriate” response very soon to Britain's expulsion of four of its diplomats but said it would avoid jeopardising the interests of ordinary citizens or businessmen.
Britain said on Monday it was throwing out the diplomats in retaliation for Moscow's refusal to extradite the key suspect in the murder last year in London of former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko. Russia's constitution bans extradition.“They are trying to punish us for following our own constitution,” Alexander Grushko, a Russian deputy foreign minister, told reporters in Moscow.
“This is a direct path to confrontation”.
Grushko said Russia would inform the British authorities very soon about its countermeasures but did not say what they might be.
“We will fully take into account the interests of ordinary citizens, tourists, participants in cultural and scientific exchanges and business circles,” he added.
“We do not want them to suffer because of London's political actions.”
A spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office said no retaliation by Russia would be justified.
BUSINESS TIES: Britain and Russia have a booming business relationship, with trade at record highs. Russian companies rely on London's financial markets to raise billions of dollars in capital and British firms have invested heavily in Russia's oil sector.
British ambassador to Russia Tony Brenton voiced his hopes that business ties between the two former Cold War foes would not suffer. “We do not expect our disappointment with the Russian authorities about the Litvinenko case to affect the economic sphere,” he told Russian reporters. “Indeed we expect British-Russian economic ties to continue to grow.”
The Kremlin has so far stayed silent on the expulsions, with President Vladimir Putin avoiding public statements and his official spokespeople lying low.
Russian officials and media have said Britain's fuss over the extradition of key Litvinenko suspect Andrei Lugovoy is hypocritical in view of London's repeated refusal to hand over Russians wanted in Moscow.
Lugovoy, a former KGB security agent, has repeatedly appeared on Russian television insisting he is innocent of murder charges. He says Litvinenko was probably killed by fellow Russian emigres or British intelligence.
Britain based its extradition request on evidence indicating that Lugovoy poisoned Litvinenko's tea in a London hotel last November with radioactive polonium. Litvinenko died an agonising death from radiation poisoning weeks later.
Russia has in turn pointed out that Britain has refused to extradite fugitive billionaire businessman Boris Berezovsky — a Kremlin critic wanted in Russia for corruption and plotting to seize power — and Chechen envoy Ahmed Zakhayev, among others. “Russia has requested the extradition of 21 of its nationals”, said Grushko. “...noone has been extradited. If Russia had acted in the same manner as London, I think the British embassy in Russia would by now be short of 80 diplomats”.
The spat has not so far affected Russian financial markets.
The RTS index of Russian stocks ended on Tuesday down 0.6 per cent, retreating slightly from record highs set on Monday.
“The markets have grown increasingly immune to such diplomatic shenanigans,” said Roland Nash, chief strategist at Renaissance Capital, a Russian investment bank.—Reuters
