The night-walkers of Uganda

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Putin hits back at UK by expelling 
diplomats
Luke Harding in Moscow
July 20, 2007
Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian security 
agent who left Russia and was living in Britain, 
died in a London hospital last November. 
Someone poisoned him using a radioactive 
substance called polonium-210. The British 
authorities believe that the person who poisoned 
Mr Litvinenko is a man called Andrei Lugovoi, a 
former KGB agent. Mr Lugovoi is still in Moscow 
and the British authorities want the Russians to 
send him to London so he can be put on trial 
for murder. The Russians have not done this so 
the British government expelled four Russian 
diplomats from the UK.
Just four days after Britain expelled the four 
Russian diplomats, Russia has expelled four 
British diplomats. It has also banned Russian 
officials from travelling to the UK. The Russian 
foreign ministry announced that the four UK 
diplomats would have to leave Russia within the 
next ten days. 
Mikhail Kamynin, a spokesman for the Russian 
foreign ministry, also said that Russia would not 
co-operate with the UK in fighting terrorism, and 
would not give visas to British officials. Russian 
officials would not ask for visas to visit Britain, 
he said. This means there will be no contact 
between the two governments in the near future. 
Mr Kamynin said that Russia’s action was “the 
minimum necessary”. 
The Russian response was not as strong as 
some people expected. It came just four days 
after the British foreign secretary, David Miliband, 
announced that he was expelling four Russian 
diplomats. Analysts said that Mr Putin clearly 
did not want to make the problems with Britain 
any worse. The Russian response was a careful 
mirror image of the British actions. But the British 
foreign secretary said: “We believe that the 
decision to expel four British embassy staff is 
completely unjustified and we will do everything 
to make sure that the diplomats and their families 
are well looked after.” 
Last night Mr Vladimir Putin attempted to reduce 
the tension. “I think relations between Russia 
and Britain will develop normally because both 
countries are interested in this,” he said. “It is 
necessary to use common sense and respect 
the interests of partners and everything will be 
alright. I think this mini crisis will pass,” he said. 
The Russians did not say the British diplomats 
were spies, although Andrei Lugovoi said that 
MI6 was involved in Mr Litvinenko’s murder. 
Sergei Markov, an adviser to the Russian 
government, said Mr Putin didn’t want “to play 
the role of the Soviet Union. He doesn’t want to 
have a big conflict with the west.” Mr Markov said 
some British officials could still travel to Russia 
– MPs, for example, and Mr Miliband himself. 
Yesterday afternoon the British ambassador in 
Moscow had talks at the Russian foreign ministry. 
He and the Russian deputy foreign minister 
Alexander Grushko discussed the Litvinenko 
case. After the meeting the ambassador said: 
“He gave me certain messages for the Foreign 
Office in London. I told him we are disappointed 
at Russia’s reaction to our request for Mr Lugovoi 
and that we hope that Russia will co-operate.” 
Mr Miliband said that Britain had received 
support from the international community, 
European countries, the EU as a whole and the 
United States. “We will continue to discuss this 
matter with the international community over the 
next few days and weeks.” 
British businesses will probably be pleased that 
the Russians only expelled four diplomats. They 
were worried that the Russians might make it 
more difficult for British business people to get 
visas to visit Russia. Some people believe that 
yesterday’s action by the Russians might be 
the end of the matter. “There is some hope that 
both sides will stop now,” Sergei Karaganov, an