Russia Lashes Out Over U.K. Expulsions

Russia on Tuesday vowed a "targeted and appropriate" response to Britain's expulsion of four diplomats in a mounting confrontation over the radiation poisoning death of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko, but refrained from revealing its plans.

Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko criticized Britain for demanding the extradition of the key suspect in the killing, emphasizing that Russia's constitution forbids it, and urged other European nations not to gang up against Moscow.

Grushko had been expected to announce a response to Britain's decision to throw out four diplomats and place restrictions on visas issued to Russian government officials — moves that followed Moscow's refusal to hand over Andrei Lugovoi, accused of the November killing of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London.

He said Russia would inform Britain very soon of its response, but did not say what it would be.

"Our reaction will be targeted and appropriate, and the British authorities will be officially informed of this in the nearest future," Grushko told reporters. He said Moscow would take care to ensure its moves would not hurt tourists, business people and other "everyday citizens" with ties to Britain.

Like President Vladimir Putin, Grushko railed against London for demanding Lugovoi's extradition, accusing Britain of "trying to punish (Russia) for abiding by its own constitution."

"The Russian Constitution prohibits the extradition of its citizens. No political decision can change this legal fact."

He said Britain's position would make cooperation between the nations' law enforcement bodies difficult if not impossible.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman, Michael Ellam, declined to say Tuesday whether Britain would consider further punitive measures against Russia if Moscow continues to refuse to extradite Lugovoi.

"We are waiting to see what the Russian response is," he said.

The U.K. Foreign Office issued a simple, but resolute response to the Russian comments, saying "no retaliation on Russia's behalf is justified."

Ellam said Brown had not made contact with Putin or other Russian officials, but that Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband had spoken Monday afternoon with his counterpart at the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said the Russian ambassador in London was summoned to the Foreign Office and given an official note on the diplomats' expulsion, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported. Moscow was now studying London's official position, Kamynin said.

Russian Ambassador Yury Fedotov said Tuesday in London that it "looks like deja vu of the Cold War." Fedotov said the current diplomatic row had "nothing to do with the case of Mr. Litvinenko".

Fedotov said because the case deals with a Russian national's death, and a suspect who is also a Russian national, there was no reason the trial should take place on British soil.

The dispute could derail recent American efforts to ease increasing tension between Russia and the West, and holds implications for crucial issues like energy security and the nuclear standoff with Iran.
Mikhail Margelov, head of the international affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, expressed the hope that relations do not sour further.

"Russia-British relations have a centuries-long history, and it would be stupid to overshadow them by a distrust toward Russia's law, jurisdiction and constitution," Interfax quoted him as saying.

Viktor Kremenyuk, deputy director of the Institute of USA and Canada Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said he would advise the Kremlin not to escalate the conflict by responding with more expulsions or other sanctions. He also questioned why the British government had taken the case so far.

"I cannot understand why the British government has decided to turn this more or less usual criminal case into a political one," Kremenyuk said in an interview. "Why does one former KGB officer killing another deserve this attention?"

Lugovoi, also a former KGB officer, gave a television interview Tuesday in which he said Britain had provoked the diplomatic conflict.

"The British officials have backed themselves into a corner by proposing to extradite me, although it was obviously prohibited by the (Russian) Constitution," he said on Russia Today, an English-language satellite channel under Kremlin control.

Izvestia, a daily newspaper loyal to the Kremlin, announced in a front-page headline that "the new British prime minister has declared a diplomatic and visa war on Russia."

"The language of ultimatums, threats and demarches will hardly help British authorities in their dialogue with Russia. The actions of Gordon Brown and his newly formed Cabinet are nothing but a policy of double standards," the newspaper said. "Do Brown and his team really believe that in current international affairs they can do without Russia?"

Nezavisimaya Gazeta said that British investment in Russia in 2006 amounted to $3.3 billion and was expected to double this year. "Looks like Russia and Britain have something to lose," the paper said.

On Monday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said the British moves "will not go unanswered and cannot fail to produce the most serious consequences for Russian-British relations as a whole," he said Monday.