Technoglitch
Core Member
The official conclusion that Vladimir Putin “probably approved” the murder of the former spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 has again raised uncomfortable questions about Russian exceptionalism – and how best to handle relations with what many conservative western politicians regard as a rogue regime in Moscow.
Russia’s sense of detachment from the European mainstream, or to put it another way, its self-created isolationism and separateness, is nothing new. It dates back to the 1917 revolution and the communist era, or even further, to the days of Tolstoy, Turgenev and the tsars.
But there are particular doubts about Putin, his strange brand of paranoid nationalism, and the state that has formed around the president.
A key issue for Putin’s western interlocutors is that Litvinenko’s death is not an isolated case, though the manner of his death was exceptional. Prominent opponents and critics of Putin have frequently come to grief, at home and abroad.
Anna Politkovskaya, an award-winning journalist, made her name reporting on Russian military abuses in the second Chechen war. She and her newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, fiercely opposed Putin’s actions.
In October 2006 – one month before Litvinenko died – Politkovskaya was shot dead outside her home. Although five men were convicted of her murder, it remains unclear who ordered the killing.
Putin's disturbing message for the west: your rules don't apply | World news | The Guardian
Russia’s sense of detachment from the European mainstream, or to put it another way, its self-created isolationism and separateness, is nothing new. It dates back to the 1917 revolution and the communist era, or even further, to the days of Tolstoy, Turgenev and the tsars.
But there are particular doubts about Putin, his strange brand of paranoid nationalism, and the state that has formed around the president.
A key issue for Putin’s western interlocutors is that Litvinenko’s death is not an isolated case, though the manner of his death was exceptional. Prominent opponents and critics of Putin have frequently come to grief, at home and abroad.
Anna Politkovskaya, an award-winning journalist, made her name reporting on Russian military abuses in the second Chechen war. She and her newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, fiercely opposed Putin’s actions.
In October 2006 – one month before Litvinenko died – Politkovskaya was shot dead outside her home. Although five men were convicted of her murder, it remains unclear who ordered the killing.
Putin's disturbing message for the west: your rules don't apply | World news | The Guardian
