NEVER SMILE AT A CROCODILE


William Hague our current Foreign Secretary wants improved Trade and bilateral relations with Russia, across a range of areas,- not least respecting Syria, a more co-operative Russian state would be helpful.

Relations with Russia plummeted after a Russian defector, at that time though a British Citizen, Alexander Litvinenko was murdered in London, by the novel method of poisoning him with radioactive material. The finger of suspicion pointed toward the Russian state. The then Labour government asked for the extradition of the chief suspects, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, the Kremlin refused and has consistently refused to co-operate. 

Now on the eve of Mr Litvinenko’s inquest Hague signed a broad public interest immunity, (PII) certificate that would prevent secret government files from being revealed. I have written to my MP about this. Here is the edited text of my e-mail.

'In my last [e-mail] I expressed concern about the government’s decision to block key evidence to the Litvinenko inquest, not least any information pertaining to Russian involvement in the murder of a British citizen. (The use of Polonium, a substance strictly controlled even in Russia, suggestive, to put it mildly, that it is unlikely that a none state actor was involved). … Is probably in a better position than any other backbencher to evaluate the likely possibility that evidence withheld from the inquest might point in the direction of Russian state involvement. At best this looks like collusion with the Russian authorities at worst, if such evidence does exist and it is being withheld from the British judicial process, this is a scandal of the first magnitude.

Appeasement of this nature never really 'appeases,' it merely feeds an appetite. The Russian state is a crocodile it is not wise to get too close to; moreover the truth has a habit of getting out, (see Hillsborough) and can end up impaling those who seek to suppress it.'

Hague’s decision may of course be much more nuanced, though if he wanted simply to conceal the level at which Britain’s security services are combating Russian espionage and state sponsored criminality he could have engaged with the Litvinenko family, who would surely have been sympathetic. The crude imposition of public interest immunity certificates suggests appeasement of the Russian authorities.

As I say if he does believe that the Russian government can be placated in this way he is deluded. Over Syria alone European appeasement of Russian concerns has already emboldened the Putin regime. Never smile at a crocodile.


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Meanwhile in the town of Berezniki in the Ural mountain region of Russia Maria Alyokhina, a member of the Russian punk feminist collective Pussy Riot, is on the 10th day of a hunger strike. She is protesting the decision to deny her the right to attend her own parole hearing. (She was recently denied parole). Romola Garai has written about this in the Guardian:-http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/31/celebrate-fuck-you-pussy-riot-alyokhina

Whilst I take issue with her analysis of the current state of protest, and her slur on my own generation, she has the measure of Alyokhina and the loathing she produces amongst the Russian Elite. She stands in a long line of Russians who, demonstrating immense courage, have spoken truth to power and duly suffered at the hands of Russian autocracy. We should offer her all solidarity. I sometimes fear when writing of these matters I might be perceived as being anti-Russian, nothing could be further from the truth.
If it had not been for the extraordinary courage of the Russian people between 1941 -45, Hitler would have retained control over the whole of a Europe stretching from the Urals to Greece and Italy. Even the might of the US would not have been able to dislodge this Nazi Empire. The consequences for this country barely stand thinking about.
When I read about the siege of Leningrad or the battle of Stalingrad it seems to me that Russian courage represents a whole different order of the phenomenon. In short we owe the Russian people a great debt.

During the 20th century it was the Russian people’s misfortune to be ruled by a psychopathic madman indifferent to the suffering of the people of Russia and the other Soviet Republics.[1] As he passes mercifully into history, along with the geriatric imbeciles who inherited the terror state he created, he and they have been replaced by the rule of oligarchs and gangsters, equally indifferent to the suffering they cause. More than any people on earth the Russian people deserve better.


[1] I refuse to use the term ‘his’ people. The citizen’s of a country are not the private property of their rulers.


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