Russia: who’s next to be expelled?

Financial Times

Throwing out Guardian newspaper journalist Luke Harding seems to have backfired as an attempt by the Kremlin to improve Russia’s image. Harding tried to fly back to Russia on Saturday from a trip abroad but had his visa cancelled at the airport.

He is not the first westerner to be expelled from Russia, and may not be the last – business people included.

Harding joins a list of westerners who have found themselves on the Kremlin’s bad side and been summarily ejected.

Robert Dudley, now BP’s CEO, fled Russia in 2008 when he was still head of TNK-BP, following mounting harassment including threats to his visa (though he is welcome back in his new incarnation). Bill Browder, head of Hermitage Capital, at the time the largest investment fund in Russia, was thrown out in 2005. He has never returned.

The dilemma for the Kremlin is what to do about its critics – and Harding was one of the most hard-hitting and frequent critics of the Kremlin, reporting on Vladimir Putin’s alleged personal wealth, the Wikileaks cables which identified Russia as a “mafia state”, and was the frequent target of harassment.

For whatever reason, foreign journalists attract more attention in Russia than in other countries, and many Russians are deeply unhappy with what they see as overly critical coverage in the western press.

But Harding’s expulsion is likely to backfire. If there was ever any doubt that his pessimistic vision of Russia was justified, now there is not. President Dmitry Medvedev has been keen to talk up a political thaw, which for all intents and purposes is now over. And foreign investors will think “well, if that can happen to him….” займ на карту hairy girl https://www.zp-pdl.com https://zp-pdl.com/apply-for-payday-loan-online.php займы онлайн на карту срочно