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By Lucie Godeau
LONDON: The 10th annual Russian
Economic Forum, a British-ledeffort which opened here Sunday to
showcase the country’s businesses to potential investors, is
clouded this year with a boycott by some top Russian officials.
Leading businessmen including an
executive from state-controlled gas giant Gazprom and an economic
adviser to President Vladimir Putin are among those who have
canceled their attendance at the 11th hour amid rising political
tensions between London and Moscow.
“There won’t be any high
officials this year at the forum,” Jonti Small, spokesman for
event organizers Eventica, confirmed on Friday.
According to three sources close
to the Kremlin quoted Friday by the Russian newspaper Kommersant,
the sudden decision to boycott the event was “an order from
above.”
One of the sources said that the
move came after a dispute with the British Foreign Office.
Russian businessman Boris
Berezovksky, who was granted political asylum in Britain in 2003,
provoked fury in Moscow last week when he called for the overthrow
of Putin.
Ties between London and Moscow
have also been strained since the assassination by radioactive
poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in November.
His associates accused Moscow of
poisoning Litvinenko because of his opposition to Putin, a claim
rejected by the Kremlin.
Ahead of the Forum’s opening,
the head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
called on Russia and the European Union, of which Britain is a
leading member, to iron out their political and economic
differences.
“It is necessary [for them] to
engage, to discuss, to treat political issues, but increasingly
there are matters that can be tackled concerning business
matters,” Jean Lemierre told Agence France-Presse.
“Relations between Russia and
the European Union have never been as intense as they are currently,
since the end of the Cold War,” he added.
The EBRD, which since 1991 has
helped former Soviet bloc countries make the transition to market
economies, last year doubled investment in Russia to 1.9 billion
euros ($2.6 billion).
Lemierre is scheduled as one of
the official speakers at the forum, which opens late Sunday with an
informal gathering of delegates, and continues with speeches and
presentations on Monday and Tuesday.
The EBRD turned down in January a
request from Gazprom for a $400-million (294-million euro) loan.
 --AFP
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