Monday November 2, 2009

Britain seeks to end 5 years of frost with Russia

By Conor Sweeney

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Britain and Russia said on Monday they would try to mend frosty political ties but sparred over Moscow's refusal to extradite a former KGB bodyguard who is suspected in the murder of a Kremlin foe in London.

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband meets with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, November 2, 2009. (REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin)

David Miliband, on the first full visit by a British Foreign Secretary to Moscow since 2004, called for a more mature approach after years of squabbling that have given Britain the worst relationship with Russia of any major Western power.

Britain accounts for a tenth of foreign investment in Russia and businessmen say better ties could help British companies secure more deals in the world's biggest energy producer.

"It is very important that we do not paper over our differences but we do not allow them to block our cooperation where possible," Miliband told reporters at a news briefing after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

"I thank David Miliband for good, productive talks," Lavrov said, adding that he hoped the meeting would help to "move our positions closer".

But Lavrov and Miliband sparred over Moscow's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoy. Britain wants him as a suspect in the 2006 poisoning Alexander Litvinenko with polonium-210, a rare radioactive isotope.

British officials felt they had to make a strong stand over the murder after Litvinenko's London-based associates blamed the murder on the Russian security services.

Russian officials, and Lugovoy, denied any link. Litvinenko fell ill on Nov. 1, 2006, three years ago to the day that Miliband arrived in Russia for talks.

"Our stance has not changed," Lavrov said, adding that it was unrealistic for Britain to demand that Russia change its constitution to permit the extradition of Lugovoy.

LITVINENKO MURDER

Lavrov said that Britain had not yet provided the proper documentation about the Litvinenko case, though Miliband hit back saying full information had been passed to Russia.

"That information has not been provided in a comprehensive way. Our prosecutors have their own rules to follow and the British colleagues know what sort of material should be presented," Lavrov said.

"They have sent substantial information to their Russian counterparts," Miliband said.

Even before the Litvinenko murder, mutual espionage accusations between London and Moscow, and Britain's granting of political asylum to some of the Kremlin's enemies, had cast a pall over bilateral business and trade.

Britain is one of the biggest investors in the Russian economy, accounting for a tenth, or $24.6 billion, of the foreign investment Russia has received since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, according to Russian state statistics.

BP Plc has a 50 percent stake in Russia's third-biggest oil-and-gas producer, TNK-BP, and Russian companies used London to list shares and sell bonds during the boom years.

Russia will hold a preliminary road show in London this week for its first major sovereign Eurobond since 1998 crisis, which Moscow needs to cover a budget deficit.

Diplomats said Miliband's visit was the first full official visit to Moscow for bilateral talks by a British foreign secretary since Jack Straw came in 2004, although Margaret Beckett attended a G8 foreign ministers' meeting here in 2006.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Michael Roddy)

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