Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird will meet as soon as early next week with the Canadian diplomats the federal government is recalling from Israel, the West Bank and the UN.

In an interview with the National Post, Mr. Baird said he will meet with those representatives in Ottawa for a frank discussion on Canada’s next move after Thursday’s UN vote that implicitly recognized a Palestinian state.

Despite widespread speculation, Mr. Baird said Canada is not considering breaking off relations with the Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority and deferred questions about Canadian aid to International Cooperation Minister Julian Fantino.

“We want to get the advice and counsel of the representatives closest to the file,” Mr. Baird said in a telephone interview from New York, where he joined the United States and Israel in vehemently opposing the Palestinian bid Thursday. “We’re not looking at breaking off relations with the Palestinian Authority, but we do want to look at what we do going forward.”
He would not speculate on how Canada might express its displeasure, saying only, “We’re going to consult first. I’m not going to speculate … We’re going to be responsible and deliberate.”

Canada has given some $300-million in aid to the Palestinian Authority since December 2007 — a five-year commitment that will soon be up for reconsideration. “The projects we’re funding are coming to an end, and my colleague, Julian Fantino would have to look at what he plans or intends to do going forward,” he said. “I’ll leave that issue with him.”

When asked about the future of Canada’s financial support to the UN itself, Mr. Baird said Ottawa is “not making any threats in that regard.” He pointed out, though, that when UNESCO approved a Palestinian bid for full membership, the U.S. cut millions in funding to the UN.

“I was clear then that the UN better not pass the hat around and expect that Canada make up for those types of reductions,” Mr. Baird said.

Echoing the Obama administration, Mr. Baird said his “key” concern is the prospect of the Palestinian Authority seeking access to the International Criminal Court, where it could move to try Israel for war crimes.
“That’s why I want to sit down and consult with our representative to Ramallah and our UN ambassadors to get a sense of what the road ahead could look like,” he said.

The Palestinians have said privately they will not head to the International Criminal court, but they rejected American and British requests to make an explicit promise in their bid language.

“They had an opportunity to assuage fears on that, and they declined to do so,” he said.
Mr. Baird said he also wants to speak with Ottawa’s representative in Ramallah about recently reported threats by the Palestinian Liberation Organization that Canada will suffer consequences for its vote against the UN bid.

The Harper government has long said the path to peace lies not in unilateral moves — Mr. Baird equated the UN bid with “end-running” negotiations — but rather in bilateral talks with Israel itself. Mr. Baird said Canada will do anything it can to support the peace process, but added: “There isn’t much to support.”

“We have to be realistic. This process has to be led by the two parties,” he said. “They’re the ones that have to step up to the plate and make difficult decisions and concessions. That can’t be imposed by anyone else — not the UN, not Canada, not anyone.”
He also said that upcoming Israeli elections only reduce the chances of negotiations any time soon. While Mr. Baird said he is “disappointed” by the Palestinian leader’s tone yesterday at the UN, he said, “let’s use this as an opportunity to get back to the negotiating table and find a lasting peace.”
When asked whether that was imminent or highly plausible: “We’ll see. That’s why I want to talk to our folks from the UN and in Ramallah.”

A Russian businessman helping Swiss prosecutors uncover a powerful fraud syndicate has died in unexplained circumstances near his mansion in Britain, in a chilling twist to a Russian mafia scandal that has strained Moscow’s ties with the West.

Alexander Perepilichny, 44, sought refuge in Britain three years ago and had been helping a Swiss investigation into a Russian money-laundering scheme by providing evidence against corrupt officials, his colleagues and media reports said.

He has also provided evidence against those linked to the 2009 death of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, a case that caused an international outcry and prompted the United States to push for a bill cracking down on Russian corruption.
Perepilichny, a Russian citizen, collapsed and died not far from his home on an upmarket, heavily protected estate in the county of Surrey, south of London, on November 10.

He is now the fourth person linked to the Magnitsky case to have died in strange circumstances.
“It is being treated as unexplained,” a police spokeswoman said. “A post-mortem examination was carried out which was inconclusive. So further tests are now being carried out.”

Locals at the estate – dubbed as Britain’s Beverly Hills and ringed by neatly trimmed golf courses and security check points – told Reuters that Perepilichny’s body, clad in running gear, was found after dark at the top of a hill.

A shaky mobile phone video clip shot by Liam Walsh, a 24-year-old local chef, showed a motionless body of what he said was Perepilichny stretched out on the side of a deserted lane lit by the light of a lone lamp-post.

“He wasn’t breathing. We had to get him on the back and start doing CPR (first aid). He was probably dead for a while,” Walsh told Reuters as unmarked security cars patrolled the immaculately maintained estate.

Far beyond Russia’s borders, Magnitsky’s death has become a symbol of corruption in Russia and the abuse of those who challenge the authorities there.

This month the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to “name and shame” Russian rights violators as part of a broader trade bill, brushing off warnings from Moscow that the move would damage relations.

William Browder, a former employer of Magnitsky and a prominent London-based investor, said Perepilichny had come forward in 2010 with evidence involving the Magnitsky case that subsequently helped Swiss prosecutors open their investigation.

“Alexander Perepilichny approached us in 2010 as a whistleblower with evidence about the complicity of a number of Russian government officials in the theft of $230 million which Sergei Magnitsky had uncovered,” said Browder, founder of Hermitage Capital Management.

“He provided us with copies of many of the original bank documents. In January 2011, Hermitage filed an application to the Swiss authorities seeking an investigation. It was announced in March that the Swiss prosecutor’s office opened an investigation and froze the assets in a number of accounts.”

Browder, whose grandfather was the general secretary of the American Communist Party, was one of the biggest Western investors in Russia but was barred from Russia in late 2005 and most of his staff left the country as Hermitage found itself coming under increasing official pressure.

Magnitsky was jailed in 2008 on suspicion of tax evasion and fraud, charges that colleagues say were fabricated by police investigators he had accused of stealing $230 million from the state through fraudulent tax refunds. The Kremlin’s own human rights council has said Magnitsky was probably beaten to death.

News of Perepilichny’s death initially appeared on Wednesday in a report in Britain’s Independent newspaper, which is backed by Alexander Lebedev, a Russian billionaire who has spoken out publicly against the Kremlin.

British media said Perepilichny appeared to be in good health before he collapsed in the evening outside St George’s Hill, one of Britain’s most exclusive estates, where he was renting a house for 12,500 pounds ($20,000) a month.

St George’s Hill is home to many big names in the financial and celebrity circles, its long list of one-time tenants including Elton John and Ringo Starr.

We’d like to stress that our strength resides in our ability to minimize the influence of such a regretful event on our investigation

Leaked secret diplomatic cables from the U.S. embassy in Moscow once described Russia as a “virtual mafia state”, and London has long been the chosen destination for Russians seeking refuge from trouble at home.

But concerns have been growing in recent years that Britain might be turning into a playground for Russian mobsters as gangland violence seems to be spilling over Russian borders.

In April, a former Russian banker was shot near London’s Canary Wharf financial district, sending a chill through the immigrant community. In 2006, former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died after drinking tea poisoned with polonium-210.

Asked about Perepilichny’s case, Swiss prosecutors said it started its criminal investigation in March 2011 following a complaint made by London law firm Brown Rudnick filed on behalf of Hermitage Capital Management.

“Concerning the death of Mr Perepilichny and its consequences on the criminal proceedings, we’d like to stress that our strength resides in our ability to minimize the influence of such a regretful event on our investigation,” the Swiss Office of the Attorney General said in a statement.

“A good cooperation with other judicial authorities is also essential to carry on our investigation efficiently.”

Perepilichny was also a witness against Russia’s notorious Klyuyev Group, a murky network of officials and underworld figures implicated in tax fraud who used European bank accounts to buy luxury property in Dubai and Montenegro, The Independent reported.

“Perepilichny was the guy who brought all the evidence they needed to open the investigation,” a source told The Independent. “He brought with him records of shell companies, Credit Suisse accounts, property transactions. The whole lot."