Johnson's Russia List
2007-#257
17 December 2007
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#21
The Guardian (UK)
December 17, 2007
Letter
Too much at stake to put relations with Russia at risk
In the light of the breakdown in relations
between Russia and the UK, as evidenced by the
pressure on the British Council (Report, December
13), would it not be appropriate for the
government to rethink its policy. The sacrifice
of the British Council in the pursuit of unclear
and unachievable goals is unwise.
There is no chance of Andrei Lugovoi being
extradited to Britain, so it is time to stop
digging in that particular hole. Article 61(1) of
the 1993 Russian constitution clearly states a
citizen cannot be extradited. President Putin
will be stepping down in May, after serving the
two terms allowed him by the constitution, which
suggests at the least that constitutional
conventions are formally observed. More than 200
people in the last decade have been extradited to
Russia to stand trial, and more than 100 have
been convicted. If Britain is so sure of its case
with Lugovoi, let it be heard in open court in
Russia - and let us draw back from the brink of
seriously damaging the important work of the
British Council in Russia. The Litvinenko affair
was one purported bad man being killed by other
purported bad men, with no serious evidence of
official Russian state involvement. Let's not
sacrifice the British Council and broader Anglo-Russian relations for this.
Professor Richard Sakwa
University of Kent
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