Russians are entitled to be angry. They have fair elections and Putin is consistently supported by 70- 80%. And the British have refused extradition to dozens of criminals from Russia (mostly non-Russians) It is also true that Sarko, Brown and Merkel are having closer relationships . It was bound to happen with their average growth rate of 1.5%, whilst Russia's has been consistently 7% , albeit from a lower base. And the French, British and German citizenry are seeing their urban centres including their capital cities becoming more Arab Islamic, Pakistani Islamic or Turkish Islamic who call Palestinians, Iraqis etc "brothers" but not the people amongst whom they took refuge. The neo-con or tribal musings of this article are not relevant. What is relevant is that "Western" Europe needs Russian energy and the Russian market. I expect a few British companies to lose out. After Putin I expect that the "Russian" criminals will have to come to terms with justice.

Marco Borg, London, UK

I could be completely wrong Denis, because I am half a world away but as the case has yet to go to trial - and indeed may never go to trial - the matter is almost certainly being treated as sub judice. This provision is peculiar to the British criminal justice system and applies equally here but not as I understand it in the USA, nor perhaps in Russia. This may have given rise to misunderstandings over the processes of UK law. Essentially the disclosure of detailed evidence in advance of a trial is withheld from the public and discussion of the case is not encouraged and indeed may be prohibited, although this was much more easily enforced prior to the advent of the internet. The aim is to protect a trial jury from being contaminated by the uncontrolled release of information, opinion and speculation which may not be well founded and potentially prejudicial to achieving a fair trial.

A Holmes, Auckland, NZ

UK must respect the constitution of Russian Federation and not give status of politic refugee to russian criminals. russian criminals is the problem of Russian Federation. Cant UK be wiser in politics, not handling double standards?

den, Kiev, Ukra

If Sir Kamm British government should be strict and consistent, but could bring the case of the Saudi arms to the end? Incidentally Saudi Arabia where more than a formidable enemy of Russia, Iran, Korea, Venezuela, China, etc. Saudi Arabia is main financier of Islamic fundamentalism, and Pakistan is not forgotten about until Sir Brown is fighting with windmills, in Pakistan (a country with a real nuclear weapon) now a real political crisis.

Pavel, Krasnoyarsk, Russia

Mr. Oliver Kamm can you mention other countries that are engage in assasinations? Come on, I know you know some of them. FYI President Putin offers the best solution for Iran crisis, by proposing enriching the uranium in Russia. Meddling in Ukraine? you mean the west have nothing to do in Orange Revolution?

Mark Herd, London,

1st How many of those stating "Russia has no democracy", "KGB rules Russia" etc. have ever been in Russia recently? Where do you get your opinion? From "The Economist" and its fellows? Unfortunately freedom of media does not equal freedom of thinking in the nowdays world.

2nd Has Scotland Yard published an OFFICIAL conclusion upon Litvinenko's autopsy?

3nd Why doesn't UK want to publish evidence against Lugovoi? Russia says that there were no evidence in the British request. My point of view the way the crime had been commited was too much stupid for FSB (KGB). FSB might be whatever you can imagine but stupid.

Denis, Moscow, Russia

The action of your troops in Iraq is the reason of killing more than 100000 people and the reason for
Moslems' detestation relative to the Western world.The majority of the population in UK are against the war. So, in my opinion, a question about thugs has more relation to UK' authorities who carry out the war and cover up Chechen bandits.

Alexander A, Sevastopol, Ukraine

Thug? Harboring thugs like Zakaev and Berezovski, Britain itself becoming a thug country. Britain became modern day Tortuga and is ready to help any terrorist or criminal (especially with great amount of loot) only to pursue its own interests. Looks like the same tactics it was using against Spain, Britain is implementing against Russia now. Maybe you better stop taking for real thugs in the first place or is it just one of the ways Britain conducts its foreign policy nowadays? No wonder why you have murders like that, think whom you harboring in the first place.

Yevgeniy Filatov, Terre Hute, USA

Sounds very 'neoconish' to me. Mr Kamm must have got his talking points from Darth Cheney himself. As an American I trust Mr Putin more than the Neocons (and that is not saying much).

Of course, the fact that Russia crushed the neocons in the fight for Eurasian oil and gas is all omitted. Not to mention Mr Berevosky's presence has been steady over here at neocon gatherings and meetings (including those with Cheney's office). Maybe this is all just a coincidence.

Mr Kamm should lay out the whole story objectively INSTEAD of just neocon talking points. That would differentiate Western Media from his Russian counterpart.

My honest opinion is that I do not take a side because we are NOT getting the whole truth from either side. The only thing I find interesting is that the powers that be are in a panic over Russia (google Kissingers visit) and can only expel a few Russians to retaliate..........unless of course they want freeze in this winter.

Robert, Chicago, IL

Hercule Poirot would have a field day with this case. There are several convenient points of logical hiatus. If, as we are now discovering, Britain is sheltering many Russian criminals, why hasn’t Putin killed a few of these? Then why, when there are so many ways of killing someone without leaving any discernible evidence, would they use Polonium, which was bound to cause a huge fuss and leave all sorts of traces. It doesn’t pan out in the terms of a simple assassination. Then there is the British reaction. Motive is always a major part of any attempt to place blame. This has been so vehement, in view of the above implied restraint, that it naturally leads to a suspicion that the death of Litvinenko is more complex than British security wishes to admit. Meanwhile the people of Britain and Russia can only speculate.

Henry Percy, London, UK

Alex, remember the LAW is a set of rules made by those in power, and not always for good reasons. The law, therefore, is not above criticism. Any law must answer to reason and justice. National laws can contravene international agreements, just as in this case. International laws are also constantly evolving. It is an irony that you have had to quote a law dating from the early period of the Cold War to support your case.

The force of international law is dependent on the cooperation of sovereign states. International law would not be needed if national laws covered all necessities. Therefore do not be blinded by a nationalistic point of view. That´s the sort of thing that led to two world wars. Under the LAW, Hitler murdered over six million people. In your own country (former Soviet Union) over 20 million people were murdered by Stalin or died in Labour Camps. It is an evasion to use the concept of "THE LAW" to stifle debate.

cerronevado, Malaga, Spain

No joke, Mr Vale. I gather you too are troubled over asylum recently granted by Britain to persons presumably claiming refugee status but almost certainly meeting UN refugee criteria and covered under existing UN refugee quotas. If you happen to be troubled over Iraq, what is it the French say about omelettes and eggs? Rest easy. Britain has every cause to be proud on both counts. And Daniel, the comparison referred to would appear to come from Sydney. You will find Sydney in Australia, not New Zealand.

A Holmes, Auckland, NZ

Apologies to Daniel and to Sydney. I see it’s one of ours - another case of confusing one variety of power (bigger supposedly being better) with influence, which can be a more potent projection of power, and infinitely more enduring. Cheers!

A Holmes, Auckland, NZ

Russian Business leader warns Russian cos worth 600 billion may quit LSE for European exchanges and British cos in Russian will face dificulties from Tax, safety inspectors etc

Tim, London,

Pam, of St Petersburg, is very close to the mark. In fact, the president of every country of the EU is in possession of sufficient information to answer her question; it's just that none of them dare to do so. Yet.

H. Grattan, Johannesburg, South Africa

We gladly do business with countries that don't have great human rights records, I think we'll just have to do the same with russia.

c, london, UK

Right Akram! And EU should stop buying all that dirty gas and oil from Russia! We have to switch new energy resources: let's recall how our grand-grand-fathers warmed their houses - with wood! Let's burn wood, not Gas! Oh, boy... but Russia got all the woods too, damn!

Citpeks, Tallahassee , USA

The main problem West has with Russia is that it never had a "chance" to live under its shadow. If you want to learn about true russian intentions read som history of Central and Eastern Europe.
UK had a wise man at number 11 one day. He noticed an iron curtain across the Europe. Now it will be an iron oil pipeline of Gazprom cutting our continent in half. Learn to read between the lines people.

Lukasz, London,

I admire Mr. Camm for his outstading courage. He calls Putin thug!!! He dared acused criminal leader of criminal Russia!!! He bravely pins the blame on Putin despite the danger to be immidiatly poisoned with polonimum or uraniam or something else developed in KGB labs. I hope Mr. Camm brave enough to call Mr.Bush by appropriate name for organizing killing hunderd thousands of Iragis in their own capital of Iraq. How do you call him? And how do you call Blair?

mike, Moscow,

"Under the European Convention on Extradition 1957, Russia has the right to refuse the extradition of a citizen."

Everything is said above, no matter what the author's personal opinion is. It is the LAW.

Alex, Gadyukino,

Is my memory faulty? Wasn't Putin the former head of the KGB? What else can we expect? He is a thug!

Barry Jacobs, M. D., Carrollton, Texas, U. S. A.

What I like most is watching people in Taiwan, USA and UK judging the actions of Russians and advising something.
I bet you' ve never been to Russia, so visit the country before you judge it.

alex, moscow,

I find most of the above comments to be rather ignorant and stupid. What is the British government supposed to do after such a high profile murder? Ignore it? Do you think having Russian agents with radioactive materials pillocking around London killing expats is a good thing? You obviously don't live here.

If you think some of the exiles wanted for extradition to Russia living in the UK are going to get a fair trial on their return, think again. The only reason they are on Putin's radar is because they criticise his rule. It's called freedom of speech. Something Russia doesn't know very much about.

Russia is not a democracy and yes, Putin is a thug. I wholeheartedly endorse this column.

Robinson, London, England

The Litivenko murder is really a sign of Russia's continuing political immaturity. It has suited the purposes of neoliberals such as Bush to sanitise the image of post-soviet Russia, but the fact remains that Russia never had anything approaching the rule of law, which goes some way to explaining both its revolution and the failure thereof.
Putin is merely the latest in a series of despotic leaders, who, while each more progressive than their predecessors, remain in the 19th century. This is problematic for pundits, who are wont to equate any form of free market with a free society. The democratisation of Russia has been overrated, and it is about to suffer a substantial technical correction.

Stuart Munro, Seoul, Korea

UK is loosing common sense! Russia is right by refusing to extradite its own accused citizen. Politicians from UK have double standards regarding their refusal to extradite criminals requested by Russian authorities. Policy driven by UK could be valuable comic source if it is not so dangerous.

Michael, Sydney, Australia

Litvinenko was a third rate thug who got murder in a criminal gang war going on between Russian mafia and their supporter. I did not think it was wise for Britain to jump into affairs of criminals.

Kate, London, UK

What an incredibly biased and one-sided commentary. Whatever the wrongs Russia has perpetrated to get us to this situation, we might be able to have a slightly more productive dialogue with her if we had not repeatedly given 'protection' to her wanted criminals. No matter what your personal views on Russia are, diplomacy and matters of such cooperation such as extradition do have to be a two-way process.

Jim, London, UK

And what would that comparison mean, mr. New Zealand? Let's count sheep then...
Unfortunately Russia gained some trust in previous years and only beginning to show her real face now. Plz don't forget - it is an undemocratic country ruled by KGB.

Daniel, Chicago, USA

Mr Oliver Kamm whatever you saying is completely same Soviet old style propaganda I use to read when I lived in USSR.

Yurii, Moscow,

Of course the UK is legally and morally in the right; nobody has been extradited to Russia in any of the recent cases because we have an independent judiciary here.

But what is most ludicrous in all this is Russia's superpower posturing, and the extent to which this is accepted at face value. Russian nominal GDP is about one third of the UK's. The UK's advantage in per capita terms is, of course much bigger.

Go on Mr Putin - do your worst. You'll do your own country far more damage than you will mine. And you'll never catch up with us until you abandon gangsterism, repression and cronyism in favour of transparency and democracy.

Controversialist, Ely, UK

"Britain may no longer posses an empire but with its moral authority intact, its influence in the world remains"

Are you serious? Or is it a sick joke?

Vale, Oxford,

for me it is not a freedom of speech yet a piece of unleashed brazen.
Whatever Blair did and whatever he or another politician said, you would never ever find a word like 'liar", scrumbum" 'thug", 'tyrant" and things like in Russian national scale news papers
Whay do Englishmen not want to be as much careful when speaking about other peolples, I don't understand.

Andrey, Krasnodar, Russia

Its the rising east and a shaky west!!!!!!

eastwest, Delft, Netherlands

Oliver Kamm' is right. No civilized nation can--or should-- tolerate such a politically-targeted killing within its borders. If Putin's allies were not involved in the murder, they have little to fear by extraditing Lugovoy for trial in the UK, whose judicial system -- unlike Russia's -- is widely recognized as one of the fairest in the world.

D. Kasper, Cambridge, MA, USA

I do not condone murder but there is an element of hypocrisy in our self-righteous stance. Philby, Burgess and MacLean were vilvified when they escaped to Russia and took Soviet citizenship in the 1950s after years of espionage against us. Is it likely that our intelligence services contemplated disposing of the three? I would not be surprised. If any of them had died a mysterious death in Moscow would we have thought it terrible? If Moscow had claimed to identify a culprit then in the UK and demanded his extradition would there have been protests in the streets of London at our refusal to comply? I doubt it.

Steve, Odessa,

Russia seems fearful that it is poised to resume its old role as backward, peripheral European backwater. As Brown, Sarko, Merkel draw closer together, and as the East-side members of the European community integrate more fully into that community, Russians' only hope of leading decent and civilised lives is to choose civlised leaders. But we for our parts must recognise Russia's legitimate grounds for concern, and the unique difficulties it faces in reining-in '90s-style kleptocrats and oligarchs.

Maynard, Oxford, UK

Isn't it a little hypocritical us to complain when Russia won't extradite someone to the UK to face trial, when we have a number of Russians living in the UK that Russia wishes to extradite and we have refused to do so.

Okay we can argue and debate the fairness or otherwise of the British and Russian legal systems and who will or won't get a fair trial, but if we are not prepared to extradite people to Russia to face trial then why should expect them to do so for us?

Andrew brown, Derby, UK

i wonder if there is any info on the web concerning real motivation behind this crime. Why would anyone resort to such outlandish, to say the least, means of poisoning unless one wanted to ensure high-profile case & all the diplomatic hustle & bustle. Actually, the question is who benefits from it? I've got no clue so far. I feel seriously worried partly cause I do not understand fully what exactly is going on.

Pam, St.Petersburg, Russia

Is it suprising Bush doesn't object to Putin sending his thugs abroad to assasinate people he disapproves of? That after all is also US policy.

julian, oxford, uk

I suggest Oliver Kamm open a map an compare Russia with Britain. It might give him a sense of perspective.

Britain should first extradite the many Russian criminals it has sheltered before making similar demands on Russia.

David Lewis, Auckland, New Zealand

The question remains where did Mr Litvinenko voiced his "famous" criticism towads Russian regime? The other question is if he was such a prominent figure why nobody knew anything of him before he died? Why is it impossible to exchange Mr Lugovoj against Boris Berezovsky?

Tom, London,

This is a new case of double standards. While Britain refuses to extradite Russian citizens (and even grants some them political asylum) Russia should extradite a Russian citizen against the constitutional law. It is about power and setting pressure on Russia in different fields (Kosovo, Poland, Caucas region). It seems to mee that Russia is only accepted if it follows blindly the interests of Western countries (like under President Yeltsin in the 90s). By the way, you may ask common Russian citizens what they think of the 90s when they had to follow a form of capitalism that was introduced by American advisors. Then you may understand the actual popularity of President Putin.

Gerry Koch, Bern, Switzerland

With smooth words and regular deliveries of oil, Putin & Russia were on their way to being the Senior Partners in a developing Brussels-Moscow Pact. The sheer stupidity of blowing it all for the sake of whacking a shady and small time figure like Litvenenko is mind boggling, though this selfish American is most thankful for it. I can only think that Russian foreign policy has as its sole objective the gratification of a large chip on the shoulder. Her ambitious neighbors to her south and east are doubtless taking note.

cs, detroit,

I've tried to find a golden mean in this story but it seems impossible. The thing is, the Russian Constitution rightly prohibits extraditing its own citizens, and Mr. Miliband's suggestion in this light does look somewhat childish. On the other hand, I totally support the idea that the murderer of a British citizen must stand trial on British soil, and the chances are approximately 65/35 that the jury finds him guilty. Just as well they may find him not guilty! This case is about cooperation and mutual respect, first and foremost, and I doubt that ordinary citizens and businesses won't suffer in this cold war. After all, the UK has granted refuge to people considered thugs by the Russian Federation. Why not exchanging one for another, indeed? Still, non of the parties trusts each other, and it is first and foremost distrust that makes everything worse and worse.

Alena, Reykjavik, Iceland

Relationships with US and its client states have always been bad. There is nothing new there. If the Russia-Us relationship would improve, the clients including UK, will follow, there is no need to deal with them individually.

Bugavoi, Perm, Russia

Britain should push for an EU wide ban on Russian relations if they don't hand over Lugovoy, we have Russian state assasins committing murder on our streets, if we don't stop them now where will it all end?

Akram, London,

KGB rules in Russia. I wonder how many people in the West believe that V. Putin and the parties, created by his administration like the United Russia and Just Russia really enjoy broad support of Russians. Ask yourselves why they removed all the limits about minimal voter turnout then. Under a new law adopted by Russian parliament recently, the minimal voter turnout has been abolished. So even if one comes to vote, by law the elections are held. Russia is not a genuine democracy, it's a quasi-democracy. What the hell does it do in the G8 then?

Eli, Taipei, Taiwan

In the messy world of modern foreign policy, nobody comes off well.

To the universal testosterone poisoning, President Putin adds a lack of any real political or diplomatic experience, and the handicap of being raised in a culture where "getting physical" is mistaken for strength - remember all those PR photos of him in his judo pyjamas when he started in the job?

For Russians, I suspect a more important and long-term consequence of his lack of experience or qualified advisors is to be seen in the pride with which, at the G8 conference, he announced that wage inflation in Russia was now nearing 20%. Even after adjusting for high growth rates (which in Russian, being based on resource prices, are beyond any control of the politicians), it's still 12%. This should _not_ be a source of pride!

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK

The constant appeasement of Putin's Russia by the USA,France and Germany has led to this stuation. As the Poles see only too clearly ,it has encouraged Putin in his bullying and endangered Europe.Now the appaling Schoder has shown his true colours and slunk off to work for his master( at Gazprom) and the out of touch dinosaur that is Chirac has at last retired ,just maybe,given their backgrounds, Sarkozy and Merkel will join Great Britain in standing up to Putin.It is the only way to deal with bullies and the sooner the better,as they should know from their own histories.

R G James, Brasschaat, Belgium

UK still tries to find some new enemies... There is no simple solutions in political problems. Can`t we live in peace without these dirty spy games. Russian FSB like english Mi6 are tryin to make us fight with one another.

anarchist, Omsk, Russian Federation

Mr Zellman, How you draw a comparison between Mr Kamm and a Nazi uis beyond me. Your "logic" is seriously deranged.

Toby, Sydney,

Putin has a gangster-state and behaves like Arturo Ui

CCTV, London, England

EU doesn’t have problem with US renditions in Europe. I guess that is the reason why you have special relationship.

zoko, hayward, ca

I guess Bush shoud put on glasses before he looks into someone's eyes.

Bruce Northwood, Washgington, D.C., USA

"Given new and better leadership in France and Germany, and confirmation of appalling and possibly criminal leadership in the Kremlin", Oliver Kamm sounds (and probably thinks) like a Gregor Srasser , 1930s German politican.

Paul Zellman, Los Angeles, California

Well, Britain has successfully thrown Mugabe with its targetted sanctions and now it wants to target Russia. If Britain could not do anything against Mugabe, what can they do against Putin. It is a wasteful bravado to talk about standing firm against Putin.

Ananya, Plymouth,

Absolutely! It is nice to see a healthy divergence of opinion amongst your columnists. One lesson Mr Putin still has to learn: Britain may no longer posses an empire but with its moral authority intact, its influence in the world remains and more importantly, far exceeds that of Russia.

A Holmes, Auckland, NZ

Can we call Mr Blair a thug for sending troopers to Iraq?Politics has always been full of blood and calling one ruler a thug means the others are just the same. Or is it again a double-standard?

Steven, Moscow, The Russian Federation