UK in "not pussyfooting around" shock

[English assassin]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/art...085363,00.html

Former KGB spy faces Litvinenko murder charge

The Crown Prosecution Service today recommended that Andrei Lugovoi, a Russian businessman and former KGB spy who met Alexander Litvinenko in London on the day he fell ill with polonium poisoning, be charged with his murder.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Moscow-based Mr Lugovoi, although Britain does not have an extradition treaty with Russia.

The director of public prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald, described the murder as an "extraordinarily grave crime" and said the case was "clearly in the public interest".

Top stuff. I was worried that the Foreign Office would try to stop this so as not to upset Putin. Either the CPS has balls, or, even more interestingly, the FCO may have decided that its simply not possible to avoid annoying Putin any more.

I'm not exactly expecting anything to happen once the Russians reject the warrant, but at least Mr Lugovoi's future travel plans will have to be rather restricted.

[Odin]

I'm curious as to the political implications of the indictment (not to dismiss this mans death, thats not my intent with this post). Increasingly the west is becoming more hostile towards Russia and vice versa.

I dont know how a mad putin would affect the UK directly, I wish I knew the energy the UK got from Russia directly. This tension with the EU started with Ukraine and the energy shortages, I think the EU as a whole is getting a little worried about the course of Russia.

I know this is a UK indictment and issue at present but I see this in the larger context of EU/Russian relations.

Hows it playing in the press and on the streets in the EU fella's?

[English assassin]

I dont know how a mad putin would affect the UK directly, I wish I knew the energy the UK got from Russia directly.

Well, not very many years ago, the UK's medium term energy plan projected that we would get 80%, that's right folks, 80%, of our electricity from gas fired power stations fueled via a pipeline from, you guessed, Russia.

Evidently our civil servants could see nothing at all wrong with this plan.

After the little debacle with the Ukraine, I believe the plan is being quitely reconsidered. But if the short judo champion had only held his hand for a few more years, he would have had the UK by the nuts and no mistake.

To be honest Odin, as you would expect, in the UK people in the street are still more interested in the next episode of Eastenders that Russia's plans for regional influence, and our mostly vile newspapers react accordingly. The broadsheets are carrying more sceptical coverage (eg the Times today has a piece questioning the "attempted assassination" of the mayor of St Petersburg, suggesting that she may be a stopgap president for 2008-2012 before Putin comes back, and that the alleged attack was arranged by Putin to get her good publicity (and very possibly at the same time to remind her that a REAL attack could also be arranged.)

The fact that you don't exactly murder someone with radioactive polonium and hope that it won't be traced back to the Russian government has not entirely escaped notice either. Putin is certainly sending some messages isn't he?

[Odin]

The fact that you don't exactly murder someone with radioactive polonium and hope that it won't be traced back to the Russian government has not entirely escaped notice either. Putin is certainly sending some messages isn't he?

I suspect that Russia as a whole is not to happy with thier dwindling sphere of influence. So as a world power do you go on about your losses or do you flex the muscle you still control? I suspect Russian behavior will continue to evolve with the energy issue as it pertains to the EU. This the lever Russia still has on the european bloc, and while Russia shouldnt bite the hand that feeds, world consumption of energy suggests for the time being that demand will support the Russian flexing of muscle.

As far as the murder goes, to me, how that played in the states and how I truly read it is a Russian security matter. Russia never seemed to have any qualms of killing its dissenters in grotesque fashions. the fact that it played out in the UK and has a broader political tone is a secondary circumstance IMHO.

[English assassin]

the fact that it played out in the UK and has a broader political tone is a secondary circumstance IMHO.

Yes, I expect that is right. Its not exactly the first time an Eastern European has been offed in London in a way that came straight out of a James Bond movie. The message is mainly to the other Russian exiles living in London, although I suspect the Russian Government won't be sorry at the two fingers to the UK ("So, you won't extradite Berezovsky? So what? We can get them in London too")

[nokhor]

russia will probably say they won't hand over lugovoi, unless the u.k. hands over berezovsky who russia claims is a criminal and who has political asylum in the u.k. they've been after the u.k. to hand him over for years. so they might do a swap.