Will Abramovich sell Chelsea?

World press about the "Litvinenko case"

The world press yesterday continued to actively comment on the consequences of the “Litvinenko case” for Russian-British relations , Russia’s relations with the European Union and the international political climate in general.

According to the British DAILY TELEGRAPH , “the Kremlin’s tactics are an echo of the Cold War.” Under President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel, Russia no longer plays by the Western rules it adopted after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The regime, which is effectively dictatorial, the newspaper believes, has silenced its critics in the press and rejected all attempts to respect human rights. The country is ruled by a group of militant former KGB officers determined to return Russia to the center of the international stage as a world power.

FINANCIAL TIMES believes that the "Litvinenko case" threatens the agreement between Russia and the EU." The UK intends to put pressure on its fellow EU members to jointly insist that any agreement between the parties must reflect the problems raised by Moscow's response to the polonium-210 poisoning of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko last November and Moscow's refusal to satisfy the demand for the extradition of the main suspect Andrei Lugovoy.

"The UK wants to make sure that the Council of European Ministers is prepared to go further," said one Brussels diplomat. "This is a highly controversial issue."

The UK has not yet blocked new negotiations between the EU and Russia, and its actions will not entail an increase in the delay for the start of negotiations with the Russian Federation, diplomats said.

The newspaper recalls that Portugal, which currently holds the EU presidency, last week on behalf of the European Union supported London, which expressed disappointment at Moscow’s reluctance to cooperate with the investigation.

The British THE SUNDAY TIMES publishes an article entitled “Litvinenko: the trail leads to the Kremlin.”

According to the newspaper, a high-ranking representative of London spoke out quite unequivocally: the murder of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko is “undoubtedly an act of state terrorism on the part of Moscow. This is how this matter is viewed at the highest levels of the British government." The newspaper's source has access to the latest police and intelligence data and his remarks reflect the views of senior Home Office counter-terrorism officials, Scotland Yard investigators and others directly involved in the investigation into the murder. Last week they all confirmed their opinion that Litvinenko was poisoned last year in London on the orders of the FSB. In Moscow, too, they do not hesitate to use very harsh expressions. Russian intelligence circles want a new Cold War with Britain, which began after the assassination, to escalate. Now representatives of the British authorities claim that, according to the police, the tracks lead to the FSB itself. The basis for this is the cost of the radioactive polonium used to kill Litvinenko, which is estimated at £4.5 million. They also confirm that the polonium was produced in Russia - most likely at the nuclear center in the closed city of Sarov.

In turn, the German DIE WELT notes that the Kremlin is complaining about “Russophobia” reigning in the West.

The message that Peskov (First Deputy Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov - Ed. ) wants to convey: neither the Kremlin nor the FSB are behind the polonium murder. This is a common crime, and the only worrying thing is that a radioactive isotope was used to commit it. “The Russian Constitution prohibits the extradition of Russian citizens. And the Constitution is untouchable,” says Peskov. “We don’t have a switch in the Kremlin with which we could turn the Constitution on and off.”

However, the newspaper writes, Peskov does not think that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich will be forced to sell his football club Chelsea. “At least I hope that the British government will not force him to do this,” Mr. Peskov said and laughed, Die Welt writes.