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Minister slams Putin's 'attacks' on democracy
Last updated at 11:22am on 26.11.06
Outspoken: Peter Hain, Northern Ireland Secretary
Tensions between Britain and Russia burst into the open today when a leading Cabinet minister voiced criticism of President Putin's "huge attacks" on liberty and democracy.
Peter Hain, the outspoken Northern Ireland Secretary, indicated that relations with Moscow had hit a low as he exhorted the Russian leader to return to democratic processes.
His comments come as the Government has been treading carefully with Russia amid claims that the Kremlin ordered the poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London.
The Foreign Office asked Moscow on Friday to hand over any material which might assist Scotland Yard's inquiries into Mr Litvinenko's death.
In an interview with BBC1's Sunday AM, Mr Hain acknowledged today that relations between the two countries were "tricky".
He went on question President Putin's commitment to democracy and raised the killing of the investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Ms Politkovskaya was a prominent Putin critic and her death was being investigated by Mr Litvinenko.
Mr Hain, a contender for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party, said: "The promise that President Putin brought to Russia when he came to power has obviously been clouded by what has happened since including an extremely murky murder of a senior Russian journalist.
"And there's lots of things that have been happening in Russia which actually cast a cloud over President Putin's success in binding the place together and in achieving economic stability out of chaos.
"His success in binding what is a disintegrating nation together with an economy which was collapsing into Mafioso-style chaos ... his success in that must be balanced against the fact there have been huge attacks on individual liberty and on democracy and it's important he retakes the democratic road in my view."
Tony Blair has sought to avoid any kind of public confrontation with Moscow over human rights concerns, while tensions have developed over Russia's energy markets. The Government has been asking Russia to open up its gas and oil markets to foreign investment.
