Ties between the two countries fell to a post-Cold War low after Moscow refused to extradite the man Britain wants to put on trial for the 2006 murder of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko using the highly toxic polonium-210 isotope.
“We are calling for the comprehensive development of the relationship between Britain and Russia,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his British counterpart William Hague at the start of talks in a 19th century neo-gothic mansion in Moscow.
“I appreciate the commitment that you have shown to improving the relations between the UK and Russia and we will both work on that together,” said Hague, who later sat down for a meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev.
The row over Litvinenko led London and Moscow to expel diplomats three years ago.
But even before the murder, anger over mutual espionage accusations and Britain’s granting of political asylum to some of the Kremlin’s enemies had overshadowed a lucrative business and trade relationship.
British companies accounted for $19.4 billion of the $262.6 billion foreign investment Russia has attracted since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, making Britain the fifth largest investor after Cyprus, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany.
Over 1,000 British businesses have a base in Russia, the largest investor being oil company BP through its TNK-BP joint venture. For Russian companies, London is the traditional venue for selling billions of dollars of stocks and bonds.
Medvedev and British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to work on improving ties during their first meeting on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in Canada in June.
“It is important for us to recognize that the differences remain, not to evade them, but rather to raise these questions, discuss them with patience and to resolve them through dialogue,” Hague told the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
His comments, reported in Russian, set a more conciliatory tone than that of his predecessor David Miliband, who had a stormy relationship with Russian officials.
Hague said in the interview that Britain still wanted to put former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoy on trial for the murder of Litvinenko. Lugovoy has denied any link to the murder and Moscow has ruled out his extradition, citing its constitution.
