Lugovoi Extradition: U.S. Response

Previously, I had noted that the United States had taken a restrained approach to the dispute between Russia and the United Kingdom concerning the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, urging simply Russian "cooperation" with the British investigation. I thought this made sense given the competing policies at stake, as well as the inability of the United States, under U.S. law, to extradite a person for a crime, even a serious crime like murder, if Russia was the country making the request.

But the U.S. talking points changed yesterday, following Russia's expected tit-for-tat response to the British measures taken earlier this week. Now the United States says that Russia should extradite Lugovoi. Secretary Rice, who was in Lisbon for a meeting of the Quartet (Portugal holds the rotating EU presidency), explicitly stated, in an interview with Britain's Sky TV, that Russia "should honor the extradition request and Russia should cooperate fully, because it is not in anybody's interest that you can have a crime committed of this kind and nothing be done about it." In subsequent remarks with the Portuguese Foreign Minister after their meeting, she explained further that "this is an issue of rule of law - to our minds not an issue of politics, it's an issue of rule of law." The Secretary's comments were later reiterated at the daily State Department press briefing by Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey. (By the way, the EU continues to call only for "urgent and constructive cooperation.")

The change in the U.S. line is unfortunate, and the Secretary's explanation for the U.S. position - that it's a matter of the rule of law - is condescending and hypocritical. There are a number of "rules of law" competing here: international, British, and Russian. The Secretary has chosen to emphasize one, which has the inevitable effect of deemphasizing the others. What's more, as explained previously, the long-term rule of law effects (thinking of "rule of law" as law enforcement) of the Secretary's position are not positive. The U.S. hypocrisy is particularly glaring, as the United States could not extradite a person to Russia if exactly the same crime were committed there and the fugitive was found here. Is the Secretary suggesting that U.S. law is not in accord with the rule of law? One cannot but conclude (contrary to the Secretary's claim) that short-term political gamesmanship has here gotten in the way of sensible thinking.

UPDATE: Perhaps Poland should expel U.S. diplomats following the denial today of its request that the United States extradite Edward Mazur, who allegedly hired the murderer of Poland's National Police Chief in 1998.