Putin plays down "mini-crisis"
Andrei Lugovoi is wanted in Britain to face charges over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko
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Thursday, 19, Jul 2007 11:56
Russian president Vladimir Putin has described his country's dispute with Britain about the extradition of murder suspect Andrei Lugovoi as a "mini-crisis", after Moscow announced the expulsion of four British diplomats from Russia earlier today.
The Kremlin move follows its refusal, on constitutional grounds, to hand over the suspected murderer of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko for trial in London after Britain filed a formal extradition request last month.
Russia has also announced it will cease cooperation with Britain on counterterrorism activities as well as suspend its visa negotiations, moves described by foreign secretary David Miliband today as "completely unjustified".
A Russian spokesman announced earlier today that the four diplomats would leave "within the stipulated time" of ten days.
"The position of the [Gordon] Brown government is not based on British common sense and reasoning because their demand to a sovereign democratic country to bend its constitution because of the crime of one person is unreasonable," Mikhail Kamynin told reporters in Moscow.
Responding, Mr Miliband said officials are now studying the announcement "very carefully".
"We are disappointed that the Russian government should have signalled no new cooperation in the case of the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, for the alleged murder of Alexander Litvinenko," he added.
"We obviously believe that the decision to expel embassy staff is completely unjustified and we will be doing everything to ensure that they and their families are properly looked after."
The UK has been "much heartened" by the support from the international community "about the need to defend the integrity of the British judicial system", Mr Miliband added.
Speaking later today, Mr Putin signalled his determination to prevent the matter escalating out of hand.
He said the "mini-crisis" would not broaden to affect more aspects of UK-Russian relations because such developments were not in the interests of either country.