Russia vows "appropriate" response to expulsions
Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:25PM BST
By Michael Stott
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia promised on Tuesday an "adequate and appropriate" response very soon to Britain's expulsion of four of its diplomats but said it did not want ordinary citizens or businessmen to suffer.
The government 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.
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"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."
He said Russia would inform 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 hopes that business between the two former Cold War foes would not suffer.
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"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.
Russia's ambassador to London Yury Fedotov told reporters bilateral relations had deteriorated and a solution depended largely on the "political will of the British government".
"It's really hard to be optimistic today. I hope in the long run our relations will be restarted, reloaded so to say, but that is not the best moment of the history of our bilateral relations," he said.
Britain says its request for the extradition of Andrei Lugovoy is based on evidence that he poisoned Litvinenko's tea in a London hotel last November with radioactive polonium. Litvinenko died weeks later.
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.
Russian officials and media have said Britain's concern over the extradition is hypocritical because it has refused to hand over Russians wanted by Moscow like fugitive billionaire Boris Berezovsky -- a Kremlin critic wanted in Russia for corruption and plotting to seize power -- and Chechen envoy Ahmed Zakayev.
"Russia has requested the extradition of 21 of its nationals", said Grushko. "No one 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 percent, retreating slightly from record highs set on Monday.
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"The markets have grown increasingly immune to such diplomatic shenanigans," said Roland Nash, chief strategist at Renaissance Capital, a Russian investment bank.
Russia vows "appropriate" response to expulsions
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