Russia-UK relations

In the historical retrospective, Russia-UK relations were never stable or predictable. In recent years, their political aspect has been characterised by inconsistency and volatility and abrupt changes from relatively good to overtly hostile. These variations are initiated by London, either providing for its “higher national interests” or playing along with Washington and hence beginning another cooldown in bilateral cooperation with Russia.

Today, the situation around Russia-British relations provokes disappointment and clearly does not correspond to the potential and importance of the two countries in the global arena.

After Crimea and Sevastopol joined the Russian Federation, London suspended key Russian-UK mechanisms such as 2+2 Strategic Dialogue with participation of Foreign and Defence Ministers, the Intergovernmental Steering Committee on Trade and Investment and the High Level Energy Dialogue.

The entire complex of military cooperation was also put on hold, including the work to sign an agreement on military-technical cooperation, and military high-level visits were cancelled, “except those that are clearly in the interests of the United Kingdom.” The United Kingdom has also suspended all licenses (and has stopped considering applications for licenses as well) to export military and dual-use goods to Russia, which are meant for the Russian army and other structures, and “which may be used against Ukraine.”

London has also announced that the EU’s decisions on sanctions against Russian officials and companies “will be directly relevant for the British authorities.”

On May 7, 2015, a regular general parliamentary election was held in the United Kingdom. The Conservative Party won the majority of votes and David Cameron, agreeably, started his second term as Prime Minister and formed a new one-party Government.

On June 23, 2016 the United Kingdom held a referendum about membership in the European Union, with 51.89% voting to leave the EU. In total, 33.5 million of 46.5 registered voters took part in the voting (a turnout of 72.15%). The majority in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar voted to stay a member, while in England and Wales most people were against staying in the EU. After the referendum, David Cameron announced that he was leaving his office as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party.

After the internal election procedure in the Conservative Partly, Theresa May assumed the leadership. She had been Home Secretary since 2010. On July 13, 2016, David Cameron officially transferred the leadership over to Theresa May, who became the Prime Minister.

On July 13, 2016, Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory message to Theresa May on being appointed Prime Minister of Great Britain. On August 9, 2016, Vladimir Putin had the first official telephone conversation with Theresa May at the initiative of the British side. On September 4, 2016, they met in person for the first time on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China.

On June 8, 2017, an early parliamentary election took place at Theresa May’s initiative. After this, the Conservative Party lost its majority in Parliament, but remained the governing party (with silent support of the Democratic Unionist Party). Theresa May continued as Prime Minister.

One of the few remaining channels for bilateral dialogue is consultations held by Aide to the President Yury Ushakov and UK National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister (now Mark Sedwill). The latest meeting in this format took place in Moscow on August 10, 2017.

On August 11, September 12, November 22, 2016 and March 27, 2017, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov received telephone calls from UK Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson (who also maintained his position after the election on June 8, 2017). On September 20, 2016, they met in person for the first time on the sidelines of the 71st UN General Assembly in New York.

After a gap of five years the first official visit of a UK Foreign Secretary should have taken place on April 10, 2017, to hold talks with Sergey Lavrov. However, on April 8, 2017, Boris Johnson announced that the trip had been  cancelled due to “fundamentally changed circumstances” after the chemical attack in Idlib Province, Syria. Boris Johnson claimed that Assad’s government was responsible for this incident.

Between April 26–28, 2016, the delegation of the Defence Committee of the House of Commons visited Moscow to exchange opinions with members of the State Duma Defence Committee. The delegation was also received at the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Between May 16–19, 2016, the delegation of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons led by its Chairman Crispin Blunt visited Moscow and St Petersburg. The MPs had meetings with Alexei Pushkov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Yevgeny Grigoryev, Chairman of the St Petersburg Committee on Foreign Relations, and a meeting in the Russian Foreign Ministry.

On January, 2016, Robert Owen’s report into the death of Alexander Litvinenko was published after the so-called “public inquiry”. It includes allegations of the leadership of Russia taking part in poisoning Alexander Litvinenko with polonium-210 in November 2006.

At the same time, the bilateral political dialogue was intensifying until the end of February 2014, when the United Kingdom began impeding it with regard to the situation in Ukraine and around Crimea.

On May 10, 2013, David Cameron went to Sochi on a working visit, where he held talks with Vladimir Putin. They also held separate bilateral talks at the Prime Minister’s residence on June 16, 2013, on the eve of the G8 summit in Lough Erne (June 17–18, 2013). They had a short conversation on the sidelines of the G20 summit in St Petersburg on September 6, 2013. The officials also had a bilateral meeting on June 5, 2014, in Paris. On November 14, 2014, Vladimir Putin met with David Cameron on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brisbane (Australia).

On March 13, 2013 the first meeting of 2+2 Strategic Dialogue with participation of Foreign and Defence Ministers was held in London. The parties discussed the situation in Syria and new ways to promote a Middle-East settlement, the normalisation process in Afghanistan and security in Europe, including expanding Russia-NATO contacts. They adopted a number of bilateral documents, including a joint communiqué about establishing the Strategic Dialogue, and a memorandum on Russia-UK Year of Culture in 2014.

It was planned to hold the next meeting of the Strategic Dialogue during the first half of 2014 in Moscow, however, London announced that it had not taken the final decision regarding the future of this format due to the situation in Ukraine, because “it cannot imagine how to hold it in the current situation.”

In 2012, the UK was prepared to renew talks on the draft bilateral agreement on military and technical cooperation, the work on which was frozen by the previous Labour Government in 2007 in connection with “Alexander Litvinenko’s case.” Between March 6–7, 2013, respevtive expert consultations were held at the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation in Moscow. However, the UK has currently suspended this work as part of the sanctions.

The UK still is one of Russia’s main trading partners. In 2016, the bilateral trade fell 7.3 per cent to $10.4 billion compared with 2015, Russian exports declined 7.1 per cent to $7 billion and imports dropped 7.8 per cent to $3.4 billion. At the end of the year, the volume of direct UK’s investments into Russia was $430 million.

Between January–June 2017, the bilateral trade was up (for the first time since 2013) 20.4 per cent to $5.8 billion compared with the same period in 2016, with Russian exports increasing by 21 per cent to $3.9 billion and imports going up 19.1 per cent to $1.9 billion. Russia’s surplus in trade with the UK stands at $2 billion.

On November 12, 2013, Moscow hosted the 10th session of the Russia-UK Intergovernmental Steering Committee on Trade and Investment chaired by First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Igor Shuvalov and Secretary for Business, Innovation and Skills Vince Cable.

The 11th session the Russia-UK Intergovernmental Steering Committee on Trade and Investment was planned for the autumn of 2014 in London. However, the UK announced that the issue was crossed off the agenda with regard to the crisis in Ukraine. Since the parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom in May 2015, the UK has not appointed a new Chair.

On May 10, 2012, during the talks in Sochi, Vladimir Putin and David Cameron reached an agreement to establish High Level Energy Dialogue. The first meeting took place in London on June 10, 2013 (Russia was represented by Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich). It was planned to hold a regular meeting in this format from June 15–19, 2014, on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress in Moscow, but the UK declined it.

Contacts in education, science and culture are still developing.

Between October 16–17, 2013, London hosted the 10th meeting of the Russia-UK Joint Committee on Science & Technology Cooperation, where it was agreed to promote bilateral cooperation in biomedicine, nuclear and particle physics, nanotechnology, space, Arctic exploration, climate and energy efficiency.

The Russia-UK Year of Culture was held in 2014 at Russia’s initiative. The Russian part of the Organising Committee was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets, and the British part by the Baroness D’Souza, Speaker of the House of Lords. The joint programme of the Year included about 200 events.

In 2016, the Russia-UK Year of Language and Literature took place. On the Russia’s side, the efforts were coordinated by Mikhail Shvydkoi, Special Presidential Envoy on International Cultural Cooperation, with the British Council on the UK’s side. During their events, the Brits emphasised the life and works of William Shakespeare, whose  400th death anniversary was marked in 2016.

The Russia-UK Year of Science and Education is held in 2017 to promote positive dynamics. On January 27, 2017, Mikhail Shvydkoi and Chief Executive of the British Council Sir Ciaran Devane officially announced the Year and its key events, and also presented its logo.

Meanwhile, Moscow and London still have serious issues with no light at the end of the tunnel at present. The UK is not yet ready for any dialogue on a bilateral visa agreement and on revising restrictive measures on issuing visas to Russian officials. The UK still refuses to fully restore contracts with the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, which impedes the development of Russia-UK cooperation in countering terrorism.

The Crown Prosecution Service still insists on the extradition of Russian citizen Andrei Lugovoi, despite the fact that it would be a violation of the Russian Constitution. At the same time, the UK law enforcement agencies do not want to satisfy the request of Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office to extradite Russian citizens, against whom criminal cases have been initiated (more than 20 requests to date). This approach by London stands in the way of fully progressive development of bilateral relations.