I have been waiting for someone to write the truth about what is happening in the supposedly angry exchanges between Russia and Britain. You don't see anyone reacting too excitedly, do you?
In fact, the only people who should be really upset are the four Russian diplomats and their families that were kicked out of England because the Kremlin would not order the extradition of Andre Luguvoi--who is wanted for possible trial in England--and the four English diplomats and their families in Moscow who were uprooted by the Russians in retaliation.
It is a real pain to have to move out of your house suddenly, yank the children out of school, fire the maid and go back to your home country when you are only part way through your overseas posting. I feel at least a little bit sorry for them all, but nobody else.
The British surely know that the Russians have a constitutional provision that will not allow them to extradite Luguvoi, even if they wanted to. And they don't much want to, it appears, if for no other reason than that the English will not extradite Berezovsky, the controversial oligarch wanted for a list of alleged crimes in Russia. The fact that the Brazilian government has indicted Berezovsky for a money laundering scheme in their country suggests that the Russians have not exactly invented the seriousness of the charges against Berezovsky.
Nonetheless, both sides know very well that "PNGing" diplomats (making them "persona non grata")is not going to make the slightest difference to anyone except, as I say, the inconvenienced members of the Russian and British foreign ministries.
Maybe the Russians and British should sit down quietly and see how they might go about trading evidence that could be used domestically to try these individuals: Luguvoi in Russia and Berezovsky in England.
Leave a comment