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Newspaper Identifies British Enemies in Russia
Kremlin hawks, sometimes known by their Russian designation siloviki, tried to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to make a maximally hard-line response to the expulsion of four Russian diplomats from Great Britain, The Sunday Times of London writes, citing a source inside the Kremlin. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov proposed refraining from escalating the crisis. It is Lavrov's opinion that eventually prevailed.
“They [the siloviki] are ill disposed towards the West and took Britain's response [to the refusal to extradite Andrey Lugovoi] as a challenge,” the newspaper quotes it source as saying. It does not specify who exactly supported a strong response to Great Britain.
The newspaper's source is familiar with the investigation into the death of Alexander Litvinenko. One British official claimed that “The road leads to the FSB, but where the road goes once it's inside the FSB is not something the police are really aware of.” The newspaper mentions that, in the summer of 2006, the State Duma gave the Russian president the right to use the secret services to eliminate “enemies of the Russian state.” In the actual legislation, international terrorists, not “enemies of the state,” are indicated, although former Chechen separatist emissary Akhmed Zakaev, who lives in London, stated that the law was passed to accommodate his murder by the FSB.
Other newspaper sources told The Times that British officials are not inclined to think that Putin personally ordered the death of Litvinenko. They suggest that other former special services agents took the initiate motivated by personal vengeance, considering Litvinenko a traitor.
The newspaper wrote that the news of the arrest of a man intending to assassinate Boris Berezovsky broke at exactly the time disagreements were going on in the Kremlin about the response to the British move to expel four Russian diplomats, causing another delay in that decision. Britain announced its decision to expel the Russians on July 16. The announcement of the unsuccessful planned attempt on the life of Berezovsky was made known on July 18, and Russia announced its responsive measures to the British action on July 19, comparatively late.
www.kommersant.com
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