Downing Street Says

Asked if there had been any further contact with the Russian authorities, the PMS replied that there was contact yesterday between David Miliband and his opposite number. But we were not in a position to comment on specific contacts beyond that, and journalists should speak to the Foreign Office.

Asked why the Prime Minister has chosen not to contact President Putin, the PMS replied that David Miliband was the Foreign Secretary so he was in the lead on this, and he had been in discussions with his opposite number.

Asked if we saw this dispute with Russia as being about more than just the Litvinenko case, the PMS replied that as we had always made clear, and as the Prime Minister made clear yesterday in Berlin and David Miliband made clear in his statement to the House, we seek a constructive relationship with Russia across a wide range of issues. We were in close contact on discussions around issues such as Iran, Kosovo, and the Middle East peace process, and we intended that to continue. But our position on this was very clear – this was a very serious crime that was committed on the streets of London, and therefore we considered that retaliatory measures were necessary.

Asked if there was a sense that Russia had been ceasing to offer such a constructive role on other issues, and was there a sense here of maybe standing up to them, the PMS replied that this was about this particular issue. We had a constructive relationship with Russia across a broad front. We had a strong commercial relationship with them, and we had a constructive diplomatic relationship with them on all of these other matters.

Asked if the 4 diplomats to be expelled were going to be names out of a hat as a symbolic gesture, or was there any suggestion that they had been doing wrong, the PMS replied that it was best to speak to the Foreign Office on the detail. This was a general diplomatic retaliatory response that was taken in response to our disappointment with Russia’s failure to cooperate.

Asked if there was a danger that given the Prime Minister had not spoken to President Putin, Russia regarded this as purely going through the motions, the PMS replied that David Miliband was speaking to his opposite number, and David Miliband was the Foreign Secretary. The Prime Minister was keeping a close interest in this. We had taken what we considered to be a proportionate response to the disappointing failure of Russia to cooperate on the extradition of Mr Lugovoi.

Put that there was a society in politics in Russia that was very heavily focussed on the President himself, and therefore a phonecall from Gordon Brown would help to show that this was a serious matter, the PMS replied that there was no doubt about the seriousness which people should consider our response on this matter.

Asked if there was a shortlist of further measures, and were we likely to take further steps, the PMS replied that we were not in a position to comment on this at this point. We were waiting to see what, if any, response came from Russia.

Asked if our current relationship with Russia strengthened the case for nuclear energy, the PMS replied that we set out the Government’s case for nuclear energy, subject to consultation, in the White Paper that was published several months ago.

Asked if it was our position that we expected the Russians to hand over Lugovoi full stop, or might there be some sort of compromise for him to be tried in another country, the PMS replied that our position was that this was a crime committed in the UK and therefore a trial in the UK was appropriate in these circumstances, the Russians had offered a trial in Russia, which we did not consider to be acceptable.

1 Comment »

Nice buddy. I like it so much. Come on keep it up 🙂
Comment by faizan — 17 Jul 2007 on 6:33 pm | Link

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» Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Russia

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