Zee Beam News

29 July 2008 - The Moscow Times - U.S. Senator John McCain accused Russia of forcing out BP and said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was taking his country down an autocratic path. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee repeated his call for Russia to be expelled from the Group of Eight. Russian leaders need to "improve their behavior," he said during a taped television appearance Sunday. "In the last week or so, look at Russia's actions," McCain said. "They cut back on their oil supplies to the Czechs, because the Czechs made an agreement with us. They have now thrown out the -- or forced out BP out of Russia." Russia earlier this month cut oil supplies to the Czech Republic after it agreed to host a radar station for a U.S. missile-defense system opposed by Moscow. Robert Dudley, CEO of BP's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, left the country Thursday. "Now Prime Minister Putin has taken his country down a path that I think is very harmful," McCain said.