What do Russians really think of the escalating diplomatic spat between their country and ours?
Anna Matveeva
The descent of Anglo-Russian relations into a tit-for-tat row is quite spectacular. What has been achieved so far? The prime suspect is free to give interviews in Moscow with no hope of being brought to Britain. The overall state of the relationship is gloomier than during the cold war, when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev chose London for his first trip to the west to break away with confrontation policies. Diplomatically, we are back to the old days.
The difference is that now it matters what the Russian public thinks. It is stunned by the London démarche to escalate the scandal. Previously, Prime Minister Brown was seen as the epitome of sanity, a man who could keep calm amidst the storm. Now he appears to be starting battles to prove his toughness. In the context of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a rise of terrorism at home, does Britain need more adversaries? But arguing with Russia may be a safe bet, as deep down, Moscow is risk averse and doesn’t want to rock the boat too much. It is a convenient arena to show brinkmanship for a new leader.Equally amazing are the lengths to which London went to defend a Boris Berezovsky associate. Alexander Litvinenko may have died a tragic death, but he was no saint in his life. There is little in common between the ex-security agent associated with a powerful tycoon, and dissidents of the Soviet era, such as Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, who was taken in by the US during the cold war and whose credentials were untainted. For the Russian public it does not go unnoticed that those who amassed enormous fortunes by dubious means under Boris Yeltsin, impoverishing millions of ordinary citizens, mostly end up in Britain. The new rich bring in their families, friends and business associates who buy expensive properties in prestigious locations, while Britain and other EU countries provide development aid for the most vulnerable in Russia.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/anna_matveeva/2007/07/beware_of_the_bear.html