Funny How Money Change the Situation
It’s easy to hold the moral high ground in times of economic surfeit; it’s a little more difficult in times of dearth. That seems to be the situation with David Cameron, Prime Minister of the UK, in his relations with Russia. With the UK, US, and Europe tightening their belts amidst a molasses-slow recovery, Cameron visited Russian President Dmitry Medvedev this week, the first time a British Premier has visited Moscow since ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko’s death from polonium-210 poisoning in 2006.
Before Things Got Ugly for Litvinenko.
Heading into the meeting, human rights groups hoped Cameron would push Medvedev on the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, the man implicated in the poisoning, which allegedly transpired in a London restaurant. Cameron, however, skirted the issue in the hope of improving relations with the oil rich Russians, offering only,
“This [the Litvinenko case] is not being parked. The two governments don’t agree. We are not downplaying it in any way. We have our own position. But I don’t think that means we should freeze the entire relationship – we need to build a relationship in our mutual interest. Both of us want to see progress. We are not parking the issue, just realising there is an arrangement that hasn’t changed.”
The gremlin-looking Lugovoi, after supposedly poisoning Litvinenko in November 2006, returned to Moscow to mull a political career. British police would charge Lugovoi with Litvinenko’s murder six months later in May 2007 and request his extradition, only to be denied the request.
Lugovoi promptly ran for Parliament and was elected in September 2007 as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (perhaps the least aptly named political party in Russia–their leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, has opined that Russia should deport all Asians, that Russia should conquer every country in between its southern border and the Indian Ocean, and perhaps most tastefully, that all Condoleezza Rice needs to loosen up is to be raped by a company of Russian soldiers). After being elected to the Duma, Lugovoi became immune to prosecution under Russian law, which doesn’t seem to be the best deterrent of corruption.
Lugovoi, Looking the Part.
For Cameron to buckle in this instance is a shameful sacrifice of principle. Lugovoi didn’t commit a petty crime in London or even a petty murder–he assassinated a political threat using unpredictably dangerous radioactive material. Letting him off scot-free, and the people he works for, not only undermines the UK’s long celebrated principles of justice and freedom, but it undermines the UKs heralded status as a haven for asylum-seekers. Not to mention it makes Cameron look like a bloody hypocrite only weeks after condemning the country’s ‘moral collapse’ that led to rioting.
A Cameron aide noted that, “this is very much a long term game.” Indeed it is. In the long term, Cameron is encouraging the rambunctiousness of the Russian security services and undermining democracy and human rights. In the long term, Cameron is undermining the rule of law in his own country. Only weeks ago, Cameron promised swift and harsh retribution against looters and rioters. Now, only months after BP looked sordidly misguided trying to slip into bed with murky Rosneft, Cameron is letting an assassin and his shadowy bosses off the hook. And for what?
Tell it, Wu…
Tags: alexander litvinenko, andrei lugovoi, bp, c.r.e.a.m., condoleezza rice, david cameron, dmitry medvedev, enter the 36 chambers, fsb, kgb, lauryn hill, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, lost ones, polonium, rosneft, the miseducation of lauryn hill, vladimir zhrinovsky, wu-tang
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