The London Olympics can help
Russia improve diplomatic relations with Britain
following several disputes, a Russian Olympic
Committee leader said Thursday.
Relations between the two countries soured after
the 2006 death of dissident ex-Russian security
agent Alexander Litvinenko in London, with Russia
refusing repeated British requests for the
extradition of the chief suspect.
Litvinenko made a deathbed statement accusing
Russian leader Vladimir Putin of authorizing his
killing.
And at the British Parliament this week, former
Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane urged the
current government to tell Prime Minister Putin he
is not welcome at the opening ceremony of the
Olympics on July 27.
"We expect him in London," Russian Olympic
Committee Vice President Akhmed Bilalov told
reporters in London on Thursday before adding
with a smile: "If the British members of parliament
don't mind it of course."
"The Moscow Olympics Games and Los Angeles
Olympic Games were a big disappointment for
athletes, for the people because it was politics not
sport," Bilalov, a deputy in the Legislative
Assembly of Krasnodar Region, added at a
reception hosted by the Russia's Ambassador to
Britain.
The frosty relations between London and Moscow
led to more than four years without Putin holding
talks with any British official until Prime Minister
David Cameron visited Moscow in September.
Bilalov said the visit of Putin to Britain for the
Olympics can "can bring together (the) countries."
Putin, who was president from 2000-2008, is
expected to return to that position by the time of
the Olympics with an election on March 4.
But Labour Party legislator MacShane, a critic of
Russia's human rights record, said on Wednesday
that Putin will use the London Olympics and the
Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia two years later
"as events for self-promotion."
"Britain should say that he is not welcome at the
opening ceremonies of the London Olympics,"
MacShane said.
During the July 27-Aug. 12 London Olympics, the
Russian Olympic Committee will be based on a
site adjacent to Kensington Palace, which will be
the London residence of the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge from 2013.
Perks Field, used by the royal family as a soccer
field and a helicopter landing pad, will become
"Team Russia Park", hosting entertainment, sports
stars and hospitality facilities — but no alcohol.
