Targeted Adequacy
// London Awaits Moscow's Response
The Russian Foreign Ministry declared yesterday that the Russian response to the sanctions Great Britain has imposed against it would be “adequate and targeted.” British authorities are being reticent, saying that the current situation is a “test for Russia.”
The Russian embassy in Kensington Palace Gardens was surprisingly quiet yesterday. The Kommersant correspondent was admitted without problem. Employees looked relaxed and said that they had been waiting for the impending expulsion of Russian diplomats since last Friday, July 13. All the diplomats waited in suspense over the weekend to see which of them the Foreign Office would pick. The news that only four would go would received with relief. In 1975, London sent 105 Soviet citizens home all at once. When asked who the four chosen ones would be, they answered only that the selection would apparently be random.
The correspondent asked embassy deputy press secretary Konstantin Shlykov which representatives of the Russian government would soon be subject to visa restrictions, and he replied that no visits have been planned for the near future, although contacts were close between Russia and Great Britain at the middle level. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Kislyak was in London just yesterday, for example, where he was in talks on Iran, and Anatoly Vilkov, deputy director of Rosokhrankultura, the federal culture agency, was in town to try to reach an agreement with Sotheby's on the return of Soviet medals to their homeland. But they say at the embassy that several Russian officials were refused British visas yesterday. Shlykov said that no limitations on visas had been imposed at the Russian consulate in London, however.
At the same time, the British Council, another party to the Russian-British scandal, was lively. The Council has been holding a conference of Russian teachers of English. British Council Russia executive James Kennedy said he was happy Sochi had won the competition for the Olympics and his agency was ready to contribute to Olympic preparations in any way possible. British Council Russia executive Martin Hope said that the Council was soon to begin a joint project with the Boris Yeltsin Foundation to expand the teaching of Russian in British schools. For that purpose, £70,000 had been allocated.
British officials refrained from making strongly-worded statements yesterday, saying the ball was in Russia's court. House of Lords member Robert Skidelsky told Kommersant that, “The consequences depend on Russia's response to British measures. If they are symmetrical, the crisis will die down. If Russia chooses escalation, there may be consequences for travel, investment and tourism. Russia should respond modestly and more with regret than with fury. But I doubt that's what it'll do.”
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in Berlin, stated only that he did not regret expelling the Russian diplomats, since "We believe there should be cooperation from the Russian authorities in this. We are sad that cooperation is not forthcoming. We have therefore had to take the action we have taken and we hope we can have a resolution of this matter shortly." He added that he hopes to have only good relations with Russia in the future.
London Mayor Ken Livingston, who is known for his eccentric approach to friendship with Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, commented that the British had nothing to be surprised at, and that it would have been odd to count on the suspect's extradition. He noted that Great Britain is refusing to extradite Boris Berezovsky and Akhmad Zakaev to Russia.
William Wallace, chairman of the Lords Committee on Foreign Affairs, told the Kommersant correspondent that “The current situation is a test for Russia – whether it wants to be seen as a reliable partner in the world or not.” Wallace opined further that “Russia should not react too turbulently. Just as Great Britain should not cross the line. In the past, Russia has often reacted disproportionately.” He reminded Kommersant that the Nashi movement hounded British ambassador Tony Brenton and of the persecution of the British Council. “Young cutthroats from Nashi couldn't hound the ambassador without the Kremlin's sanction,” Wallace said. That wouldn't be possible in a single civilized country in the world. Even China. It would be possible in Uzbekistan, but we still judge Russia by higher standards. The whole question is whether the Kremlin wants Russia to be seen as a civilized European country or as a Central Asian state.” Two years ago, the European Union imposed sanctions on Uzbekistan, among which is a ban on travel to the EU by that country's high officials.”
According to Lord Wallace, the British Parliament will most likely discuss relations with Russia at length in the coming days. “To overcome the crisis, Russia can at least begin a trial of Lugovoi in Russia, working with the British government,” he said, noting that, otherwise, the impression is made that Russian authorities had a hand in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. “Judging from the clues we have, it is quite likely that certain people from the state apparatus of the Russian Federation knew about preparations for the crime,” Wallace stated.
An official statement on the behalf of the Russian Foreign Ministry was made yesterday, but not by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Professorial Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko addressed the press with a single sheet of paper in his hands. “Official London's line will compound the problem, if not make cooperation between Russian and British law enforcement, including combating terrorism,” he stated with indignation, mentioning that British Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced on Monday that London was reconsidering it visa policy in relation to Russia and that it would no longer cooperate with the FSB, although Miliband expressed willingness to collaborate with Moscow in combating terrorism. “Those are mutually exclusive statements,” Grushko noted dryly.
Grushko also appealed to the European Union, which has so far not reacted to the dispute between London and Moscow. The deputy foreign minister expressed hope that the EU would retain good judgment in relation to the “Lugovoi case” and “members of the EU will not give in to attempts to turn relations between Russia and the EU into an instrument to attain unilateral political goals that have nothing to do with the real interests of partnership.” Grushko called Britain's sanctions against Russia “a direct path to confrontation.” “Our reaction will be targeted and adequate. British authorities will be informed of it very soon. At the same time, we will take into full consideration the interests of simple citizens – tourists, participants in cultural and scientific exchanges and business circles,” Grushko promised.
The British embassy in Moscow had an immediate reaction to the Russian diplomat's statements. Press secretary Anjum Nurani commented that the British foreign secretary had made it clear that Britain had not created the current situation and “Our measures are only a reaction to Moscow's unwillingness to cooperate with London on the Litvinenko case.” Nurani also said yesterday that the British embassy had not been informed of any Russian responsive measures at that time.
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Russian Issuers Have New Political Risk
Foreign investors reacted to the tensions in Russian-British relations with lower quotations on Russian companies' stock. In the first several hours of trading on the London Stock Exchange, depositary receipts on Russian stocks fell from 0.3-0.8 percent. Comstar-UTS GDR and Norilsk Nickel led the way downward, with losses of 4.02 and 7.8 percent, respectively.
Analysts say that the foreign investors are taking a wary attitude toward placing funds in the stock of Russian companies. “As political relations between Russia and Great Britain deteriorate, risk managers in companies working with the stock of Russian issuers are advising that a short position be taken,” BrokerCreditService analyst Albert Khusainov explained.
In spite of investors' pessimistic outlook, depositary receipts of Russian companies had made a partial comeback on the LSE by the end of the day. But many Russian companies ended the day with a minus nonetheless. Comstar-UTS closed down 2.01 percent, Norilsk Nickel down 1.7 percent, Novolipetsk Steel down 3.05 percent, Severstal down 2.3 percent. The situation was complicated by the fact that trading on the Russian market also underwent correction. The RTS index fell by 0.54 percent after record growth.
Yulia Taratuta, London; Mikhail Zygar, Vladimir Solovyev
All the Article in Russian as of July 18, 2007
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