Downing Street Says

Asked if people were still studying what the Russians had said, and were we waiting for a formal missive from the Russian Government to our Government, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said that it was a matter for the Russians how and when they would respond. We had not received any formal response and there was nothing to be added to the Foreign Secretary’s statement yesterday.

Asked if it was a concern that following the Foreign Secretary’s statement, in making a response today, the Russians had not indicated that they would extradite Mr. Lugovoy, therefore, we were still in the same that we were before the statement yesterday, the PMS replied that our position was very clear on this. We thought that this individual should be extradited in order to face trial in a British court.

Put that we were still in the same position that we were this morning in terms of any further punitive measures, the PMS said again that we had not had any formal response from the Russians.

Asked what we made of the Russian Foreign Minister’s spokesman’s statement that said that this was a "direct path to confrontation" as well as raising the possibility that 80 British diplomats could be expelled from Russia, the PMS replied that he was not going to get into the business of responding to every statement that came out of Russia. Once we had received a formal response from the Russians, at that point, we would consider it carefully and consider what would happen next. With regards to the 80 diplomats, the PMS’ understanding was that the Russian spokesman had said that there had been 21 extradition requests from the UK. If they were to expel 4 diplomats for every extradition request turned down, that would mean 80 diplomats.

Asked if there had been 21 extradition requests, the PMS said people should speak to the FCO.

Asked what we made of the argument that the Russians saw that there was a relationship between us making demands of them, while acting as a haven for Boris Berezovsky and others, and were we in any sense looking again at a solution for the Russians we were leaving here, the PMS said that these were very separate matters. In relation to Mr. Litvinenko, a very serious crime was committed on British soil that could have put at risk the lives of hundreds of people in the centre of London. The Crown Prosecution Service submitted a very detailed case to the Russian legal authorities making the case for extradition. We were disappointed that there had not been a constructive response to that request. In relation to other individuals, we had not received any equivalent detailed evidence setting out the case for extradition of those individuals, and it was a completely different issue.

Asked if this had come up at Cabinet today, the PMS said that David Miliband had updated the Cabinet, with the Cabinet supportive of the stance that the Foreign Secretary had set out.

Asked if there had been any discussion with European partners about the matter, the PMS said that there had been a discussion with Angela Merkel as well as a very robust European statement that was put out on 1st June supporting the UK’s position. The FCO and David Miliband were in constant contact with our European partners on a whole range of issues.

Asked why the Prime Minister had allowed the decision to escalate from firm statements and demands to taking punitive action against diplomats, the PMS said because it was a serious matter. As the Prime Minister had said yesterday, this was not an issue that could be allowed to have no response. It was a serious crime on British soil and we had to take action, and we considered that this was the appropriate action to take.

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» Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Russia

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