Downing Street Says

Asked if Peter Hain was speaking for the Government when he made his comments over the weekend, and was the Government going to make a statement, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that in terms of Peter Hain, the Prime Minister and other Ministers had repeatedly underlined our concern about some aspects of human rights life in Russia. In terms of this particular case, however, we did have to proceed carefully, as there was a police investigation ongoing, and we did have to wait for its outcome. Therefore, it was premature to be drawing any conclusions at this stage.

In answer to the question of whether the Prime Minister had spoken to President Putin, the PMOS said that he had not.

Asked about the COBR meetings, and who was chairing them, the PMOS replied that COBR had been meeting regularly, as people would expect, not least because of the health protection aspect. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) had made it clear that the measures it had taken were precautionary, and that was sensible, and we needed to co-ordinate the various aspects of that. In terms of the police investigation, that was a matter for the police to carry forward. With regards to who was chairing them, the PMOS said it was initially John Reid.

Asked to characterise the Ministerial contact with the Russian Government, the PMOS said that on Friday, the FCO had met the Russian Ambassador and asked Russia to co-operate with the investigation and make available any relevant information. That was all we could sensibly say at the moment.
Asked if there had been any response from the Russian Government, the PMOS said he was not aware of any at this stage, but they had made their official response available for people to look at.

Asked if it was a Minister who had met the Russian Ambassador, the PMOS replied it was FCO officials.

Asked if we regarded it as our financial responsibility to help out foreign nationals when relating to matters of personal security, the PMOS said that when it came to security issues, people should not expect him to comment on it. If there were security concerns, then they were acted on, but the PMOS said that he was not going to get into talking about particular groups.

Asked if the Russians had provided any information, the PMOS said that again, it was about co-operation. In terms of going forward, it was a matter for the police.

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» Monday, November 27, 2006

Russia

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