Sadly the Russian government thought better of taking my sage advice, and has launched itself into the tit-for-tat diplomat expulsions game. In retaliation for the expulsion of four of its diplomats from Britain, Russia has in turn expelled four British diplomats.
I guess we should be thankful for small mercies - Russia has restricted itself to a more or less symmetrical response to Britain (as well as expelling diplomats, Russia won’t be issuing any more visas to British officials). And Putin himself has taken the opportunity to stress that Russia views this weeks events as nothing more than a “mini-crisis” that shouldn’t adversely affect future relations with Britain.
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Karolus 07.19.07 at 10:49 pm
Following the recent reciprocal expulsion of British and Russian diplomats and calls by the British Foreign Minister for foreign support in his government’s efforts to bring Russia to heel on the matter of international law, French holders of Russian bonds are in full support of Great-Britain’s stand against Russia, who has been consistently flouting the rule of law, both at home and abroad, for nearly a century.
European countries would do well to take up a common position on this matter and it is to be regretted that Britain has not yet received more backing from the EU in general, who views the recent diplomatic spate as a bilateral issue between Great-Britain and Russia, and France in particular who has consistently failed to confront Russia on similar issues for diplomatic reasons.
The 316000 French holders of Russian bonds (surveyed by the French government in 1999), to whom Russia owes a massive US$ 90 billion (July 2007 value), resent the attitude of the French government who has been brushing their legitimate claims under the carpet for diplomatic reasons for ninety years, and support any position calling for Russia to respect the rule of law, in Russia and abroad. They are seriously considering exporting their claims to more favourable jurisdictions than the French; they welcome the British stance in favour of calling for Russian respect of international law, and are sure their bona fide creditors interests can be better defended in the UK than in their own country.
Michael Averko 07.20.07 at 3:43 am
Russia unfriendly advocates are the ones supporting the British moves and regretting that they haven’t received a greater Western backing.
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