Mr Litvinenko, a fierce critic of former Russian President Vladimir Putin, had been granted asylum, then citizenship, in the UK before he was poisoned by radioactive matter in London in 2006. The UK suspects it was a state-backed murder because of the use of the lethal polonium-210.
British officials requested the extradition of Mr Andrei Lugovoi in July 2007 in connection with the Litvinenko case. Moscow turned down the request without any explanation. As a result, London expelled four Russian diplomats and suspended the visa facilitation for officials from Russia. In response, Moscow expelled four UK embassy staff. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is believed to have raised the matter for Russian President Dmitri Medvedev at the G8 summit in Japan earlier this year.
(Source: MTI)
In early August the Georgian troops launched military operations in South Ossetia to “neutralise separatist fighters attacking civilians”. Following a short ceasefire held during the time of the Russian-mediated talks between Georgians and South Ossetians, the Georgian parliament approved a presidential decree declaring a “state of war”.
Russia had poured troops and armour into the region and it was after days of heavy fights that President Medvedev announced the end of the military operations. President George W. Bush warned that Russia had to act to end the conflict. The Kremlin responded that Washington had to choose between partnership with Moscow or Tbilisi.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had held a five-hour talk with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili before an EU-brokered ceasefire with Russia was concluded. The Anglo-American relations with Russia will stay fragile as Poland has signed a missile deal with the US and the Ukraine has announced that it is ready for a closer co-operation with the NATO over its missile defence system.
Vocabulary:
- power struggle – hatalmi harc
- dispute – vita
- fierce critic of sy – éles kritikusa vkinek
- to grant asylum – menedékjogot biztosít
- to poison sy – megmérgezni vkit
- lethal – halálos
- extradition – kiadatás
- to expel sy from somewhere – kiutasít vkit vhonnan (általánosabb jelentés: kirúg vkit)
- to suspend – felfüggeszt
- ceasefire – tűzszünet
- to declare a state of war – háborús állapotot hirdet
- missile defence system – rakétavédelmi rendszer
