Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is expected to appear in a UK court tomorrow!

[Carsten Wiethoff]

This is from an interview of Vladimir Putin given to RT (http://rt.com/news/vladimir-putin-exclus...rview-481/)

Assange case a definite example of double standards

RT: While we've got you with us sir.. I'd like to get your thoughts on the ongoing Julian Assange case in Britain, his legal battle with Britain and with a number of other countries as well but equally his attempts to get asylum in Equador which he's now got and he's holed-up in the Ecuadorean embassy. What's your opinion on Britain's stance, at one point they were talking about revoking the embassies diplomatic immunity so they could actually go in and get him. That sounds a bit odd when you think that Russia has a number of suspects it would like to talk to there, it's a kind of topsy turvy situation, but they are given safe harbor in Britain.
Putin: This certainly is an unsettling factor in our relations with the UK. I used to tell my previous counterparts and friends in the British government not those holding office at the moment that Britain happens to be harboring certain individuals who have blood on their hands, having waged a real war on Russian territory and slaughtered people. I told them, "Just imagine what it would be like if Russia were to harbour militants from, say, the Irish Republican Army not those negotiating and pursuing a compromise with the government these days (those are perfectly sane and sensible people), but those with a radical agenda." You know what I was told in response? "But that's exactly what the Soviet Union used to do, aiding people like that."
First of all, I'm a former Soviet secret service operative myself. I don't know whether the USSR used to aid this sort of people or not, simply because I never had anything to do with it. But even if we assume that it did, that was back in the Cold War era. There has been a cardinal change in the settings, the Soviet Union is history, and what we have today is a new Russia. How can we allow ourselves to be dominated by our old phobias and outdated perceptions of international relations and the kind of relations between our nations? Let them go at last.
We are constantly lectured on how independent Britain's judiciary is. It makes its own decisions, and no one can influence that. What about Julian Assange? They have ruled to have him extradited. What is it if not an evident example of a double standard? I won't make a definitive statement, but as far as I know, Ecuador has requested guarantees from the Swedish government that Sweden wouldn't hand over Assange to the United States. No guarantees have so far been provided. At the very least, this suggests that we are looking at a politically motivated trial.