The Russian decision to expel four British diplomats sounds like a straightforward tit-for-tat response to the British decision to kick out four Russians. In fact, as the FT pointed out, the Russians have gone a little bit further than expected - by also extending the diplomatic cold war to co-operation on terrorism and tougher rules on visas.

Still, I think that both sides are keen to keep a lid on the dispute. The economic interests at stake are huge and could be easily damaged if the Russo-British row really gets out of control. That still seems to me to be likely to keep the dispute within bounds. If there are any Marxists left in the Kremlin, I’m sure they would agree.

But the revelation that there may also have been an assassination attempt aimed at Boris Berezovsky - the exiled oligrach and fierce critic of President Putin - certainly complicates matters. Killing one Russian dissident in London is bad enough. But if this becomes a habit… Incidentally, there is a brilliant piece by Edward Lucas on Berezovsky in the Daily Mail, which I think goes a long way to capturing the ambiguity of the man and what he represents.

The story of the alleged murder attempt was broken in Britain by the Sun newspaper - Britain’s best-selling paper, which is usually bigger on soap stars and footballers than on Russian exiles. In a bid to make the story appealing to its readers, the Sun described Berezovsky in the following fashion in its front-page splash:
"Mr Berezovsky, 61, an Arsenal fan and ex-pal of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovitch".

I wonder whether Sun readers came away with the impression that Berezovsky might have been targeted as part of a particular vicious dispute between supporters of rival football teams?

July 20th, 2007 in Russia | Permalink