Latest News & Blog
Have your say on current issues

David Cameron arrived in Moscow for a one-day trip predominantly aimed at improving business conditions for the two countries, with a business delegation of 24 top executives -including BP Chairman Bob Dudley, Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Peter Voser and Rolls-Royce Chairman Simon Robertson in tow.

Addressing an audience at the Moscow State University on Monday, the Prime Minister said he wanted to “rebuild” the relationship between the two countries and put a stop to the "tit-for-tat" culture to advance “mutual interests”.

The rapport between the UK and Russia has been tense over the last few years, since the murder of the former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, in London in 2006.

Despite several pleas from Britain, Russia has been persistently adamant in their stance of refusing to extradite the prime suspect: Andrei Lugovoi - now state deputy in the Russian parliament.

“Our approach is simple and principled. When a crime is committed, that is a matter for the courts. It is their job to examine the evidence impartially and to determine innocence or guilt. The accused has a right to a fair trial. The victim and their family have a right to justice,” Mr Cameron said candidly.

“It is the job of governments to help courts to do their work and that will continue to be our approach.”

However the Prime Minister insisted that despite the conflicting stances, Britain and Russia should attempt a new approach based on co-operation, to boost trade to mutually benefit both countries.

“Russia is resource rich and services light. Britain is the opposite. In fact Britain is already one of the largest foreign direct investors in Russia. And Russian companies already account for about a quarter of all foreign initial public offerings on the London Stock Exchange.”

“‘UK exports to Russia are already worth £3.5 billion doubling in value last year alone and growing by almost another two-thirds in the first half of this year. We want to do everything we can now to build on this and take our trade and investment to a new level.”

“That’s why I’ve brought with me such a strong British business delegation, with companies like BP, which is responsible for Russia’s biggest foreign investment.”

Later on, in a press conference joined by Mr Cameron, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev also expressed his interest over boosting investment and economic relations between the two nations.

“Investment and economic relations have been quite good, even excellent,” he said, noting that US $40 billion of investments provided by British companies.

He added that there was room for improvement and said he welcomed the discussions with the delegation from UK on the relations revolving around trade and investment co-operation.

But Mr Medvedev stood firm on Russia’s contrasting position over the Litvinenko case.

He said the legal frameworks of different countries should be respected and declared that requests for extradition “will never happen whatever the circumstances,” noting that article 65 of the Russian constitution clearly states that a Russian citizen cannot be extradited to foreign states for legal proceedings.

When asked if the Litvenko proceedings had been “parked” for the sake of trade, Mr Cameron assured it continues to be an important issue in the UK and would not be downplayed in any way.

“It remains an issue between Britain and Russia. We haven't changed our position about that and the Russians haven't changed their position,” he said in response to question raised during the press conference.

“But I don't think that means we that freeze the entire relationship,” the Prime Minister added.

“What we should do as two mature and sensible countries is try and see if we can build a relationship that's in our mutual interest covering important areas that will help us both.”

Mr Cameron’s visit, the first by a UK leader for talks in Russia in five years, is set to garner £215m worth of deals, creating about 500 jobs in the UK and safeguarding thousands more.