FRANCE: Britain thanks France for support over Britain's diplomatic dispute with Russia

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband thanks his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner for his support over Britain's diplomatic dispute with Russia.New British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has thanked his French counterpart for solidarity over Britain's recent expulsion of Russian diplomats. On his first foreign visit since being handed the job by new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Miliband was received by French Foreign Minister Bernard Koucher at the Quai D'Orsay in Paris on Wednesday (July 18). Reporters' questions after their talks centred on the question of the four Russian diplomats expelled by the British government after Moscow refused to extradite the man suspected of murdering former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in November. Britain wants Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoy -- also a former state security officer -- to stand trial accused of radiation poisoning. Miliband said he was grateful for the support shown by Kouchner for Britain's decision to expel the diplomats. "Solidarity was the word that was used by the Foreign Ministry yesterday and I feel that very strongly and I feel very supported by that," he said. He was, however, unwilling to expand any further on the current British diplomatic position and said he'd addressed in the House of Commons on Monday how the British response was very clearly linked and determined by what they saw as "a lack of cooperation" from the Russian government in securing the extradition of Lugovoy. Kouchner said he hoped Russia would regard Britain's actions in a reasonable light. "Since a British citizen was killed on British soil and there are certain suspicions, an inquiry is necessary; it's not especially intended to give a negative image of Russia, it's not intended as an accusation against the whole Russian people. It's judicial procedure in a democratic country," he said. Miliband and Kouchner's talks also covered Darfur, the Middle East and the recent Lebanon talks, held in Paris last weekend.

ITN Source | July 18, 2007

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