Posts Tagged ‘UK’
Human rights before Russian business
The Times
There are sound reasons for wanting to rebuild a working political relationship with Russia and most have to do with business. The country is on the cusp of major modernisation. It is a pivotal force in the European energy market. Anglo-Russian trade is up fifty per cent in the first six months of this year and if only the British played ball, sigh Russian officials, it could be so much more.
But this is not the time to surrender principled policies on human rights and the rule of law in return for commercial advantage. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, has told Britain to throw overboard its “ideological obsessions”, its Cold War hang-ups — by which he means dropping calls for the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, wanted in Britain on suspicion of helping to kill Alexander Litvinenko in a spectacularly macabre London poisoning. Well, Mr Lavrov may regard this as ideological claptrap, but the British are right to treat it as a question of legal process. It is time that the Kremlin understood the difference.
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PM Pursues Litvinenko Murder on Moscow Visit
David Cameron has insisted that Britain will not give up on bringing the killer of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko to justice, as he kicked off his visit to Russia.
But the Prime Minister said the two governments had to end the “tit-for-tat culture” and work together despite festering tensions over the dissident’s murder.
It is the first visit by a British leader since the murder of Mr Litvinenko in London in 2006.
The poisoning of the Kremlin critic caused relations between the two countries to hit a post-Cold War low.
The wider aim of David Cameron’s visit is to increase trade and improve his relationship with the country’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, and Prime Minister Putin.
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Kremlin Sees No Reset in Historic Cameron Visit
A top Kremlin aide cautioned on Sunday that no “reset” looms in long-troubled relations with Britain, hours before Prime Minister David Cameron was to arrive in Moscow for the first visit by a British leader in six years.
Cameron is leading a delegation including Foreign Secretary William Hague and BP chief executive Bob Dudley to talks with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that he hopes will boost economic ties and perhaps mend some fences.
Relations have been strained since the polonium poisoning death of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London in November 2006 and the Russian government refused to extradite Britain’s prime suspect, State Duma Deputy Andrei Lugovoi.
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David Cameron urged to challenge Russia on human rights
David Cameron has been encouraged to challenge Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin about Russia’s human rights record during his trip to Moscow this week.
The prime minister will fly to Moscow today for talks, as the UK and Russian governments attempt to repair the damage to their relationship caused by the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
It is hoped the meetings will lead to improved trade links with Russia, but four former foreign secretaries have called on Mr Cameron not to turn a blind eye to corruption and human rights abuses.
Labour’s David Miliband, Jack Straw and Margaret Beckett, and Conservative Sir Malcolm Rifkind have written to the Sunday Times to raise the issue of the thousands of businessmen detained in Russian prisons.
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David Cameron’s trip to the Kremlin must address the Sergei Magnitsky case
The Russian lawyer, employed by a British citizen, died in jail. The prime minister must join Washington in annnouncing a travel ban on those involved.
In diplomacy there is an unofficial statute of limitations on rows that poison state-to-state relations. November will see the fifth anniversary of the murder of Alexander Litvinenko by Russian agents in London. David Cameron will certainly raise the case when he goes to Moscow for his first trip to the Kremlin but equally certainly will have to swallow the Russian dismissal of the crime. But he will find it less easy to swerve around the case of Sergei Magnitsky, the lawyer employed by a British citizen and his London-based investment company. Magnitsky exposed the biggest tax swindle in Russian history, and was put to death by Russian officials for his pains.
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CAMERON WARNED OVER RUSSIA LINKS
PRIME Minister David Cameron is being warned to exercise caution when urging British companies to invest in Russia.
The warning from top financier Bill Browder comes as Cameron prepares to visit Russia today on a trade visit. He will also be meeting Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Browder, whose lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was tortured and murdered in a Russian jail, said: “If he promotes investment in Russia he is putting British money and lives in harm’s way.
“He needs to create consequences for Russian officials who have victimised British investors before luring new investors into Russia.”
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Great Britain might introduce sanctions against the Russians on the Magnitsky List
WPS: What the Papers Say
MacShane said, “Magnitsky’s death was gruesome but nobody has ever been brought to answer for it even though identities of these people are known. Hermitage Capital is a British company. Its head William Browder is a citizen of Great Britain. The authorities of Great Britain cannot remain a disinterested observer.”
“Since Moscow is clearly unwilling to prosecute the people whose decisions and actions resulted in the death of an innocent, it becomes our duty. Putin and Medvedev ought to be reminded that the days of Josef Stalin are over and impunity with them. The United States has made its contribution. It’s our turn now.”
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British MP Urges Russia Visa Restrictions Over Magnitsky Case
British Member of Parliament (MP) Denis MacShane has called on the British government to place visa restrictions on Russian officials accused of involvement in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who died in prison in 2009.
“What the United States government has done is to list 60 Russian officials who are named in connection with Mr. Magnitsky’s death and I’m urging the British prime minister, as our other British MPs, to do the same thing,” MacShane told RFE/RL’s Russian Service.
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Magnitsky Case Highlights Russian Corruption
The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office has named the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a 37-year old Russian anti-corruption lawyer killed in police custody in Moscow, as one of the most serious violations of the rule of law and human rights in Russia in its 2010 “Human Rights and Democracy” Report published last week. The 2010 Report highlights the call by the European Parliament for EU-wide visa and economic sanctions against the Russian officials involved in Magnitsky’s death.
“The investigation into the death in pre-trial detention of Sergei Magnitsky due to inadequate medical treatment had not concluded by the end of 2010. On the anniversary of his death on 16 November, the Prosecutor-General’s Office announced that it was extending the ‘preliminary’ investigation until 24 February 2011. On the same day, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for sanctions against officials involved in Magnitsky’s death to prevent them from entering the EU, and to freeze their assets,” said the FCO in the 2010 Report.
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