Cameron mustn't fall further into Putin’s trap
Pavel Stroilov 3:06pm
"Russian democracy has been buried under the ruins of New York's twin towers",
famous KGB rebel Alexander Litvinenko wrote in 2002. The West, he warned, was making a grave mistake of going along with Putin's dictatorship in exchange for his cooperation in the global war on
terror. He would never be an honest partner, and would try to make the Western leaders complicit in his own crimes - from political assassinations to the genocide of Chechens. As a KGB officer,
Putin would see every friendly summit-meeting as a potential opportunity to recruit another agent of influence.
David Cameron, whose summit-meeting with Putin coincided with the sombre jubilee of 9/11, would be well-advised to remember these warnings. The previous generation of Western leaders - from Bush to Blair to Schroeder to Berlusconi - has discredited itself by their 'friendship' with Putin, and got nothing in return. As The Spectator revealed this summer, there are serious questions to be asked about Russian secret service's alleged links to Al-Qa'eda. Hopefully, the Prime Minister may have even asked those questions in Moscow.
Indeed, Litvinenko's ghost haunted this summit-meeting in several ways. Poisoned by radioactive polonium slipped into his tea, in 2006 dying Litvinenko pointed his finger at Putin as his murderer. The then Labour government ignored that accusation and only requested an extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, the man suspected of actually administering the poison. Putin angrily refused, and then made Lugovoi a national hero. In contrast to the government of the day, however, the Tories in opposition bravely accused Russia of a state-sponsored murder on British soil. Five years on, with the conflict in no way resolved, did the Prime Minister dare repeat this to Putin's face?
Putin, meanwhile, urgently needs to recruit a new influential Western 'friend'. Next year, he will probably start his third presidential term - but hardly anybody believes in fairness of Russian elections anymore. So he seriously fears a Ukrainian-style 'Orange Revolution', or some other Arab-style 'Russian spring', in 2012; and he is preparing to counter this largely imaginary threat with a very real, very brutal response. Russian police have just been given discretionary powers to use water cannons, tear gas, electric shockers and truncheons to disperse peaceful demonstrations. The likely next step will be a nationwide campaign of persecution against opposition activists, 'cleansing the political field', as the Russian newspeak calls it. The intimidating term 'cleansing' ('zachistka') alludes to the infamous 'cleansing operations' against Chechen villages.
In a sense, the political zachistka of Russia is already underway. Traditionally, the KGB would begin any massive operation from trying it out in a smaller training ground. In the past couple of months, a ruthless purge has been carried out against the leading opposition figures in Yekaterinburg: Russia's fourth largest city and a traditional pro-democracy stronghold. Russian opposition groups are mainly regional, and the opposition community in Yekaterinburg had been one of the strongest. By now, however, its leading figures have been driven into exile, imprisoned, or are facing criminal charges.
Having received threats to his life, journalist and human rights campaigner Sergei Kuznetsov has fled to Israel and asked for political asylum there. He has also applied for asylum in the UK through the British embassy in Tel Aviv, but was detained by the Israelis after trying to board a plane to London without a visa. Speaking from an Israeli prison, he says he still does not feel safe: “I have heard from several sources the Israelis have been under pressure from Moscow to stop me getting to London, to put me in prison, perhaps even to send me back in violation of the Refugee Convention”.
Kuznetsov is a veteran dissident and former Soviet political prisoner, who has won a landmark free speech case against Russia in European Court of Human Rights. He is obviously not someone who can be easily frightened, so his fears deserve to be taken seriously.
The next two victims were police whistleblower Igor Konygin, and Evgeny Legedin, the local coordinator of 'Strategy 31' — the national campaign of street protests on the 31st day of each month which has it, in defence of Article 31 of Russian Constitution which guarantees the freedom of street protest. A criminal libel case has been started against them for accusing the regional prosecutor of covering-up corruption in the police. Legedin has fled to Britain and asked for political asylum. Konygin, staying in Yekaterinburg, faces up to three years in prison.
The latest victim is Maksim Petlin, a local parliamentarian and Yekaterinburg leader of the democratic 'Yabloko' party, arrested two weeks ago for his campaign against a controversial construction project. Typically for Putin's Russia, the authorities accuse him of extorting money from the company under the pretext of environmental concerns. Petlin's friends say the real reason is his leading role in 'Strategy 31' and other street protests.
On the bright side, however, both Kuznetsov and Legedin can give the West very detailed, up-to-date, first-hand information about the situation in Russia — including every link in the chain of command of Putin's repressive machine. Both told me that the man in charge of 'cleansing' Yekaterinburg was Nikolai Vinnichenko, the official Representative of President of Russia in the Urals. Having accomplished his mission, Vinnichenko has been promoted to the position of President's Representative in the North West. According to Legedin and Kuznetsov, this means St. Petersburg's opposition groups are next in line for persecution.
Besides, dozens of political prisoners from earlier purges are still in the Putlag, Russian troops are still in Georgian territories, and Putin's bailiffs have just raided BP's Moscow offices, certainly in a deliberate attempt to humiliate a British company ahead of Cameron's visit.
In this situation, it was very important for Putin to get — and for Cameron to avoid — sentimental photographs in the style of Blair hugging Gaddafi, or statements about discovering Putin's soul in his eyes. In event, they only got as far as jokes that “David would have made a very good KGB agent”, his own “we are stronger together” line, and no public scandal over Litvinenko's murder or political prisoners. Even that, however, will be seen in the Kremlin as a considerable success and a sign of Cameron's weakness. To assert his independence, he will need to take a tough line on Russian human rights abuses in the future. Perhaps, offering sanctuary to Putin's critics like Kuznetsov and Legedin would send the right kind of signal to the Kremlin.
In their comments, today's Russian dissidents echo Litvinenko's decade-old warning. “The Russian regime today is pretty much like Nazy Germany in 1936 or 1937,” Legedin says. “Merely by coming to shake hands with the dictator at such a moment, you inevitably risk accusations of appeasement. The only sensible way to deal with these gangsters is a complete boycott.”
Previous
Jez
September 14th, 2011 3:27pm Report this comment“The Russian regime today is pretty much like Nazy Germany in 1936 or 1937,”
Bollocks.
Hard Romantic but Heartless Perry
September 14th, 2011 3:37pm Report this commentGhost?
Trap?
Honest Partner?
Forgive me, but these words remind me of the EUSSR, and the H2B is more than ready to fall into those traps.
TomTom
September 14th, 2011 3:51pm Report this comment"“The Russian regime today is pretty much like Nazy Germany in 1936 or 1937,”
Well in 1939 the Russians became allies with the Nazis, so they had more in common back then !
wrinkled weasel
September 14th, 2011 4:41pm Report this commentWe don't know what happens behind closed doors. In his biography of Churchill, Roy Jenkins relates what is to my mind a bizarre meeting between Stalin and Churchill. (At Yalta, Churchill had said of him, "We have a friend who we can trust".) Little was said, but Churchill pushed a piece of paper across the table which carved up the map of post-war Europe on a percentage basis. Stalin took one look at it and pencilled a tick at the bottom. It was all done and dusted in the time it took Stalin to read the list.
Nixon and Kissinger were party to similar "back of a fag packet" deals, deals which also sealed the fate of millions.
I would not link Cameron with the likes of a giant such as Churchill, but, if anybody thinks Cameron's relations with Putin are anything other than window dressing, or at worst, appeasement, based upon the flimsiest of ad hoc "deals",they have not read their history.
porkbelly
September 14th, 2011 5:28pm Report this commentComparing Putin and his mob of thieves to the Nazis circa 1936 is to dignify him. In his dreams he wishes he could rule Russia with ruthless German efficiency; in reality Russia is more like any other resource-rich, ethics-poor Third World dictatorship where the government steals all it can from the people, where elections are mere window-dressing for brutal back-room contests for power and money, and where nothing much positive ever gets done. Putin is little better than a warlord and deserves to be teated as such.
Richard of Moscow
September 14th, 2011 6:49pm Report this commentFraser, are you going to deny this Stroilov character is an infantile bullshitter and make some case for posting this drivel on the site?
Or are you going to clam up, like when questioned about your own porkies about the EDL?
I bought the print edition today - wonderful stuff. Why do you keep polluting the site with imbeciles like Korski, Bright, Cohen and this cretin?
Richard of Moscow
September 14th, 2011 8:13pm Report this commentFraser, if this clown gives decent and honest answers to the points below, I will send you some champagne (just in case there is a 1/1,000,000 chance he is not a BS-merchant)
Most of the gibberish in the article is merely relentlessly avoiding the fact that the main opposition to Putin – inside and outside Russia – is the communists, but to deal with some of the more obvious and childish lies:
Mr Stroilov:
"Russian democracy has been buried under the ruins of New York's twin towers", famous KGB rebel Alexander Litvinenko wrote in 2002.
- You seem to think you are spinning your BS to a US audience. Here, we know Litivinenko was a Muslim convert, with links to wanted Muslim terrorists, who was rightly told to f*** off by the US, and had to move to the UK to write conspiracy theories for fugitive criminal and whoremonger (as Taki describes him) Berezovsky. Here is some news for you: we don’t pay attention to conspiracy theories spun by Muslim terrorist sympathisers. Why do you?
“He (Putin) would never be an honest partner, and would try to make the Western leaders complicit in his own crimes - from political assassinations to the genocide of Chechens.” – the latter is ridiculous al Qaida propaganda (quite effective, as many of the 9/11 murderers joined up to go to Chechnya) but the former is an outright lie. Name one political assassination (excluding your beloved al Qaida) carried out by the Putin regime. And don’t make a bigger Berkeley Hunt of yourself by saying Politkovskaya, Litvinenko, or other demonstrable BS. Post facts, or apologise for posting lies.
“in 2006 dying Litvinenko pointed his finger at Putin as his murderer.” – Sorry, but that is an imbecilic lie. Litvinenko specifically named his former friend, Scaramella. It was Berezovsky’s PR man who fed a dumbed-down media the fairy story you’ve repeated here.
“So he seriously fears a Ukrainian-style 'Orange Revolution',” – again, this is the UK, where we’re well aware of the failure of the western-financed (Berezovsky again) puppet leader Yuschenko, who was rejected by 94% of the Ukrainian electorate. Pretending Putin is scared of a western-backed, anti-Russian puppet taking charge is one of the most imbecilic things even you’ve said, sonny. Any evidence to back it up? No.
“Russian troops are still in Georgian territories” Russian troops are in South Ossetia, and have been for several years, as part of their internationally-agreed peace-keeping duties handed to them during the Sochi agreement.
Why do I have to tell you this? Even the most childish internet geeks do a basic fact check before launching a polemic, be it Wikipedia or a children’s encylclopaedia, but even that basic task seems beyond you .
Furthermore, there were obviously too few Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia, otherwise the mass murder of over one hundred Ossetian civilians by Saakashvili’s forces would have been averted. You may be an apologist for the murder of unarmed civilians, or you may be just a cretin. You should explain which one.
Of course, the idea that South Ossetia was ever ‘Georgia’ comes from just one man, Josef Stalin. Hero of yours, is he?
Anyway, having missed part of City’s CL opener to demonstrate that you are a liar, an imbecile, or both, I would ask that you at least arm yourself with some facts before you attempt to insult the intelligence of Spectator readers again.
Baron
September 14th, 2011 9:07pm Report this commentRichard of Moscow, sir, you'll have to do better than cursing, begin by addressing some of the points the chap you kick is making.
wrinkled weasel
September 14th, 2011 9:37pm Report this commentJez, and particularly Richard of Moscow:
Why don't you two go back to scrawling genitalia on the walls of public lavatories?
Baron
September 14th, 2011 10:45pm Report this commentRichard of M, is Baron right thinking you live in Russia, speak Russian?
Richard of Moscow
September 15th, 2011 12:09am Report this commentBaron
September 14th, 2011 9:07pm
Report this comment
"Richard of Moscow, sir, you'll have to do better than cursing, begin by addressing some of the points the chap you kick is making."
I'm being very kind, Baron.
The 'points' you think this chap is making are mostly a re-hash of Litvinenko's claims, with a few childish lies thrown in.
The best analogy for us would be the claims made by David Shaylor when he was financially dependent on Al Fayed, plus claims by Al Fayed himself.
Berezovsky is a wind-up merchant, but like Al Fayed he has an axe to grind, and a description in a Russian magazine describing our regime using Shaylor's (and therefore Al Fayed's) ramblings as a source should be treated with similar derision.
Richard of Moscow
September 15th, 2011 12:24am Report this commentBaron
Richard of M, is Baron right thinking you live in Russia, speak Russian?
- - - -
I lived there and in Ukraine for about six years, until last year. Taught myself the language by getting drunk in the cheapest dives possible, and talking to the general population. I'm a bad teacher and worse student, but I managed to reach a level which allows me to earn a living as a translator.
Baron and Wrinkled Weasel, I apologise for over-use of coarse language, but I've seen hundreds of examples of similar articles, and it is sub-Jacqui Smith - it is up there with Harriet Harman.
Demonstrable untruths are unforgivable, and insulting to the reader.
David Lindsay
September 15th, 2011 12:57am Report this commentFrom unrepentant old Trots in the Guardian to unrepentant old neocons in the Telegraph, the bear-baiters are out in force. We cannot have a world power to which it just obvious that Western civilisation is the Biblical-Classical synthesis in Jesus Christ and His Church, to be defended as such against all threats, internal no less than external. In fact, we cannot have any world power at all unless it is America as conceived, contrary to all historical reason, by the neocons.
No, no, far better to have the Islamist terrorists of Chechnya and the wider Caucasus, or the totally unreconstructed Communist Party of the Russian Federation, or the BBC's beloved National Bolsheviks, whose flag is that of Nazi Germany apart from the black hammer and sickle in place of the swastika. What's that, you say? Well, what did you think were the alternatives to Putin and Medvedev? But then, what did you think were or are the alternatives in Iraq, or Libya, or Syria, to name but three?
porkbelly
September 15th, 2011 1:13am Report this commentShould Fraser be pleased or appalled that Putin is evidently employing stooges to monitor CH?
daniel maris
September 15th, 2011 1:15am Report this commentRichard of Moscow -
You would be beneath contempt if you hadn't escaped the force field of contempt with your fantasy of non-involvement of Putin in the murder of Litvinenko. You're just connected to the world of facts, realit and rationality. Had you forgotten there was a complete radioactive trail (one that also compromised the health of anyone coming into contact with it) linking Putin's agents to the murder.
No - I didn't think you had forgotten.
Jan Cosgrove
September 15th, 2011 4:53am Report this commentI don't buy the idea that Putin is desperate for a western ally. Why? Whatever differences of view there are on this article, does anyone doubt that Russia is not run on a democratic basis? Nothing new in that, it's been said often enough it's not a native form of government trusted by Russian people.
I get the impression Russia sees the UK as a busted flush, a long-held Russian view from the Soviet era at least. We may not like this or want to agree but that is how we are viewed. Putin sees the US and China as the main "issues", not unreasonably.
Should we worry about this view? Why? We need to do what we need to do to be confident of our world role and at what level that operates and why. Sod Mr Putin. Or Mr Obama. Or anyone else.
Do we need to suck up to him or do things which are immoral to curry favour? Deny concerns like state-sponsored murder? If that claim is true - and the UK thinks it holds water - then it would have been sanctioned at senior levels in Russia in an attitude of cynical brutality - "we can do what we want, when we want, where we want".
Richard of Moscow needs perhaps to understand that this is the common perception of Putin's Russia. He may dislike that as an insult, and I hope in every sense that his confidence in his leadership's integrity and truthfulness is fully justified. But he can't deny such an impression exists and that it is affecting UK/Russian relations.
Does RoM really care about that or is his concern simply to deny the possibility of such wrong-doing?
Personally, from his invective I guess he's none too worried about Russia's relationship with the UK? Nor is Mr Putin I guess.
Richard of Moscow
September 15th, 2011 8:43am Report this commentI would like to reply to Jan’s points:
Jan Cosgrove
September 15th, 2011 4:53am “I don't buy the idea that Putin is desperate for a western ally… I get the impression Russia sees the UK as a busted flush… We may not like this or want to agree but that is how we are viewed. Putin sees the US and China as the main "issues", not unreasonably.”
- That is also the view of many in the UK. I do not know why the writer thinks Putin needs a western ally. Maybe he wanted Cameron in the headline, just to grab attention.
“Whatever differences of view there are on this article, does anyone doubt that Russia is not run on a democratic basis?” – as probably the sole Russophile and Ukrainophile on this thread, I should say I’ve not met anyone who believes Russia is a democracy.
“Do we need to suck up to him or do things which are immoral to curry favour?”
- I’m with you on this point too, whether it’s Russia, the EU, the US… sucking up to them is demeaning and counterproductive.
“Deny concerns like state-sponsored murder?”
- With the Litvinenko death, I think our media is more to blame than our government. Our govt had a dead foreigner, with an address book full of UK-based spies and spooks, with a British passport, in London. They could either agree to a joint investigation – meaning Putin’s mob are granted a licence to rampage around London examining the affairs of everyone who interested them – or somehow kill the story.
The UK govt decided to demand the extradition of Lugovoi, fully aware this was against Russia’s constitution. Russia offered to prosecute Lugovoi in Russia, but the UK govt supplied no evidence. This is the current state of the Litvinenko affair, with the ball in the UK’s court.
The claim therefore remains an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory, and our media shouldn’t have filled in the gaps with their own fantasies (Daniel Maris)
“Richard of Moscow needs perhaps to understand that this is the common perception of Putin's Russia. He may dislike that as an insult, and I hope in every sense that his confidence in his leadership's integrity and truthfulness is fully justified. But he can't deny such an impression exists and that it is affecting UK/Russian relations.”
- I said the article is an insult to people’s intelligence, but I think it is difficult to insult most modern politicians, ours or theirs, and I certainly do not know of many with integrity or truthfulness in either country. Yes, impressions formed from dishonest reporting may well be damaging relations.
“Does RoM really care about that or is his concern simply to deny the possibility of such wrong-doing? Personally, from his invective I guess he's none too worried about Russia's relationship with the UK? Nor is Mr Putin I guess.”
– I think any UK businessman in Russia will confirm that Russia’s relationship with the UK suffers unnecessarily due to the bickering and interference of the politicians and security services on both sides.
As for wrong-doing, if we strip away the superfluous drivel from the article, we are left with the claims that Russia’s minor opposition parties are on the receiving end of repressive measures from the state.
Let’s be kind and assume most of it is true.
Russia’s security services are notoriously unpleasant, but how could even they justify their salary by going after harmless “democrats” like Strategy 31?
Well, Strategy 31 moved one of their protests to London, where they were publicly joined by… Mr Berezovsky.
Personally, I think that if Berezovsky did all the things Russia claimed, he would have died of exhaustion, probably bankrupt, but any association with him is bound to invite the attentions of Russia’s security services, and any sensible article about Russia’s opposition parties would have mentioned it.
Jez
September 15th, 2011 9:57am Report this commentHi guys,
First i would like to apologise at the rather abrupt reply regards Litvinenko's statement comparing Russia today (or in 2001) to Nazi Germany of 1937. This is not true though- and seemed to be thrown in there as an emotional arm bender to seal the message.
If it proven to be a plot by Russia to eliminate Litvinenko in the way widely accepted, then it would be very much like the actions of NKVD's Ramón Mercader in 1940. Even then, The totalitarian regimes of Stalin or Hitler are (most, most probably) not Russia, 2001 to 2011.
When approaching the Russian Fed as a subject this is the direction adopted by the media everytime and it's maybe an affront to one's independant thought process.
We recently travelled to Costa Dorada recently on a family holiday. The only group of people with lots of money that did not seem to be touched by the hard times right now were the Russians. There were thousands of them and this was translated on the ground by the third language being spoken and printed being Russian (in the high spec areas this was the second behind Spanish).
Do you actually have a situation where Putin / Medvedev are popular at home?
Did the South Ossetia conflict give the Russian government at that time a popularity boost similar to the one gained by Thatcher after the Falklands? Is it true that Putin is widely seen by his own population as someone that brought political stability and re-established the rule of law after the Yeltsin Presidency?
What is it that the authors of these type of articles want to see happen there? (The Times is the same btw.)
Areas of major concern seem to be the total cooperation between Russia and Iran regards Bushehr, the outragous treatment of Khodorkovsky , alleged human rights abuses in Chechenya etc- but none of these would really constitute our nation cutting ties with a place that is financially bucking the International economic trend- as Cameron is proving it seems.
PAVLOS KYPRIANOU
September 15th, 2011 10:19am Report this commentDear Mr. Stroilov,
Have you examined the possibility that Litvinenko was killed by the British secret services in order to blame Putin with the help of propaganda from the media?
Indeed the way he was murdered would constitute a success for anti - russian propaganda purposes if carried out by the British, and totally irrational if carried out by the russians.
So which version is the most logical? Or should we not ask these questions because they will upset the omnipresent underlying assumption for all British media that the West are the goodies and the Russians are the badies?
Benyamin J A Cohen
September 15th, 2011 10:57am Report this commentAs an Israeli-Brit I have to take offence at some of the tons displayed by Richard. Firstly to 'convert to Islam' or sympathises with areas of Islam is not a black mark against ones character. Also it is important to note that not all terrorist groups with links to that religion should fall under the same bracket. For example the word terrorist is overused. Malcolm X(another convert to Islam) was considered to be a terrorist by academics and media in the 1960's , yet now he has documentaries on him portraying him as important to the civil rights movement.
Frankly your replies me remind me of academics in Israel who called Benny Morris's book The Birth 'anti Israeli' as he cited views of so called 'Terrorist sympathisers'.
The end of the day, and considering you claim you should not have to remind people. I should not have to remind you, that you do not have to directly kill someone to break human rights. For example in the holocaust whilst yes many were killed via gas and gun. Many and I stress 'many' were killed because of being effectively in jail.
So if Russia imprisons and does not kill? This is OK with you I presume?
Richard of Moscow
September 19th, 2011 6:03pm Report this commentMr Cohen, I did not say being a convert to Islam per se is a black mark against one's character.
But consorting with a wanted terrorist, a wanted thief, and Vanessa Redgrave certainly fits that description.
Russia has 20 million Moslems, and most of those I've discussed our countries' relations with regard Litvinenko with the same repulsion as we do.
As for the source of Stroilov's more outlandish claims, he has just been named as the man who ordered the murder of Politkovskaya. Wonder if Pavel wants to comment:
http://themoscownews.com/russia/20110916/189049072.html
To return to the claim that Putin urgently needs a new influential friend in the west: Angela Merkel is a staunch ally of VV Putin. Perhaps Stroilov doesn’t know this, or doesn’t know Markel is German, or doesn’t know Germany is in the west. Probably all three.
Putin has shown nothing but derision for Cameron (over Libya) and Obama (over Libya and the US economy) - hardly the behaviour of someone urgently in need of friends.
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