Last night one senior Conservative MP told how he would be asking parliament why senior British delegates were sent to the week-long Conference of the Parties (COP) in Moscow when both the US and Canada boycotted it after learning it would be hosted by Vladimir Putin
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...Delegates from 175 countries descended on the conference in Moscow as part of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The body, funded by the WHO, met to discuss tobacco control policies and the role of e-cigarettes.
Organisers of the Moscow conference spent more than £40,000 just to provide Wi-Fi access for attending journalists, wasted after a last-minute decision to ban all press from the event.
Of the five hotels assigned to delegates, two boast five-stars including the Government-owned Golden Ring Hotel, self-proclaimed as "one of the most luxurious" in Moscow, and the city's Crowne Plaza which commands a majestic £1,169-a-day for a suite, though the WHO has secured a small corporate discount.
The Sunday Express can reveal the dinner gala, held last Monday, offered delegates Salmon carpaccio with cucumber tartar, Salmon as the main course, Vitello Tonnato beef with tuna fish sauce, Red caviar, Scallop with white wine sauce, a fish late of smoked halibut, smoked sturgeon, eel mix; Smoked eel, and Salmon under white syrup with flying fish caviar.