Kremlins Burnishes Diplomatic Arsenal as Tensions Rise with the West
Russia winning this round, Kosovo independence will be a fight to the end for both side
Russia took a stab at another long running point of disagreement on Friday, when it hailed the retreat of Western diplomats on a UN resolution that would have moved along ‘Final Status’ negotiations on Serbia’s UN-administered Kosovo province. Seen as a short-term victory for Russia, who objects to what is perceived as an attempted and illegal forced separation of Kosovo province from Serbia, this has moved other options on the table that will most certainly raise that ante between Russia and the West.
Many UN diplomats, particularly in the lead negotiation bloc known as The Contact Group, are now considering a non-UN path to resolving Kosovo’s ‘Final Status.’ Kosovo’s PM has also noted its serious consideration of a blanket claim of independence.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has been adamant about having such negotiations kept inside the scope of the UN, which they view as the only body with the legal authority to handle such negotiations. Another notable point is, moving beyond the UN framework would effectively mute Russia’s direct influence over the process – it is a veto-wielding member of the UNSC where any such UN vote would most likely take place.
We covered this whole situation in detail yesterday.
The Man Currently Getting in the Way of Russia and the UK
The man at the center of Russia’s latest row with the West, former KGB spy Andrei Lugovoi, whose extradition has been requested by the British government in connection with the death of Alexander Litvinenko, is covered at length in the Telegraph today.
Britain and Russia have clashed in the past on other extradition issue like the former Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky who is wanted by Russian authorities on a number of charges. Berezovsky is living in Britain and has often made inflammatory statements about the Putin government. Britain refuses to hand him over. Neither have they budged in repeated requests by the Russian government to have Chechen separatist leader Akhmed Zakayev, currently living in exile in London, face terrorism charges in Russia. So with the shoe on the other foot, it looks unlikely that Russia will budge in handing over Lugovoi.
Earlier this week, Russia lashed out at the UK after it had pressed the Kremlin for immediate action on the Lugovoi request. Such demands have served as a simmering lightning rod for Russo-UK relations.
The Telegraph reported on Weds. that four British diplomats had been ordered to leave Russia. . .
Russia. . . remains defiant against British pressure and says that its constitution prevents Mr Lugovoi’s extradition.
“Four British embassy staff in Moscow are now persona non grata and they should leave the Russian Federation within 10 days,” said Mikhail Kamynin, the foreign ministry spokesman, in a terse statement.
Sir Anthony Brenton, the British Ambassador in Moscow, was summoned by the Russian foreign ministry and handed the names of those to be expelled. Their identities have not been released.
Russia also imposed a visa ban on British officials and said that it would cease cooperation with London in the war on terrorism.
Robust though Moscow’s response was, it came at the lower end of the spectrum of possible retaliation.
There had been fears the Kremlin would eject a greater number of British diplomats — a move that could have forced Britain into taking additional steps. |Read more…
Today, the Telegraph describes Lugovoi as a man who has gained celebrity status in the wake of the Litvinenko investigation . . .
For a man at the heart of the worst diplomatic crisis between Russia and Britain since the end of the Cold War, Mr Lugovoi seems to be insouciance personified.
It was not always so. When The Daily Telegraph first met him last November, a few days after details of Alexander Litvinenko’s poisoning in London first emerged, he appeared jittery, uncertain and preoccupied by a fear that Britain might withdraw his visa.
Nine months later, Britain has done much more than that, demanding his extradition in connection to Mr Litvinenko’s murder and expelling four Russian diplomats this week following Moscow’s refusal. The Kremlin responded by ejecting four British diplomats on Thursday.
In the intervening period, Mr Lugovoi has become a celebrity, a status he seems to revel in despite being cast as the villain in a tawdry, often bewildering tale of the assassin and the dead defector.
Like all celebrities, Mr Lugovoi can be different things to different people. On Russian television, where he has become a regular fixture and is often feted as a hero, he claims he has no regrets about not being allowed to travel to Britain.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, however, he admits to moments of wistfulness. “I’m very sorry about the fact that I won’t be able to buy my shirts on Jermyn Street,” he said. “I’ll also miss going to the football.” |Read more…
Russian Foreign Minister to UK: I still want to be your friend
Reuters reports that Russia’s FM Minister was keen to state his intentions on Friday to patch things up with Britain, quickly.
“Russia is interested in having relations with Britain brought back to normal,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a visit to Berlin.
“We proceed from the assumption that they should be based on respect for each other’s interests and common sense. We are prepared for this,” Lavrov said.
But a powerful Russian business lobby warned British companies that they might have to fight harder for business in Moscow after the strain in relations, and Russian firms could steer clear of London.
Putin: This is just a ‘mini-crisis’
Putin has also weighed in on what he has played down as a ‘mini-crisis,’ The Irish Independent reports.
In his first public comments since the tit-for-tat explusions this week of diplomats in London and Moscow plunged relations to their worst state since the Cold War, the Russian leader predicted that “everything will be all right”. “I think that Russian-British relations will develop normally. On both the Russian side and the British side, we are interested in the development of these relations,” said Mr Putin. “I’m sure we will overcome this mini-crisis.” |Read more…
Russia raises the stakes on the bigs boys
Ian Pryde writes in this RIA Novosti analysis about the Kremlin’s recent projection of power as a miscalculation. . .
As I forecast in recent columns, Moscow would likely find the West ranged against it in the event of major bilateral problems with individual countries – and it is indeed now encountering greater problems than it bargained for in its dealings with the outside world.
Russia has not only failed to understand the West, but has also overestimated its own power – huge energy resources do not make a superpower – or even a great power, as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq have proved.
Symptomatic of Russia’s approach and view of the world was the comment by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to journalists at the Middle East Quartet meeting in Lisbon that London’s expulsion was due to the need for Britain’s new government under Gordon Brown “to find its own line” after assuming power. |Read more…
