Russian diplomats request UK talks over Prince Charles's remarks on Putin

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/22/russia-uk-meeting-prince-charles-putin-hitler

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The Russian embassy in London has demanded talks with the Foreign Office over Prince Charles's comparison of Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler.

While on an official visit to Canada, Charles is reported to have blundered into the row about Russia's annexation of Crimea during a private conversation with a Jewish survivor of the second world war. "Now Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler," Charles told Marianne Ferguson, a volunteer at the Canadian Museum of Immigration in Halifax.

The Foreign Office said a meeting would take place later on Thursday. Russia's second most senior diplomat in the UK, Alexander Kramarenko, the embassy's minister counsellor, is expected to attend. Russia is seeking clarification about what exactly the prince said.

A Foreign Office source said UK ministers were unlikely to get involved, and the meeting would be hosted by senior Foreign Office officials.

Russia's decision to seek the meeting suggests the Kremlin is more angered by the remarks than it had let on. Russian officials have yet to respond publicly to the remarks, and Russian TV channels have remained unusually quiet on the issue.

On Wednesday, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Putin, said the Kremlin was "not commenting right now". The popular Russian daily paper Moskovskij Komsomolets said the remarks risked "triggering an international scandal" and complicated "clouded" UK-Russian relations.

There was a mixed reaction from Britain's political leaders. Ed Miliband offered Charles some backing by claiming that many in Britain shared the prince's concern about Putin and his actions in Ukraine. David Cameron refused to be drawn on the issue. Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, who has expressed admiration for Putin in the past, said Charles was wrong to make his views known.