Miliband to visit Russia next week

Reported by teletext on Saturday, 31 October 2009 (on October 31, 2009)

David Miliband is to visit Russia next week in the first such trip by a British foreign secretary for five years.Relations between London and Moscow have been severely strained since the killing of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.The Foreign Office admits it still does not always "see eye to eye" with the Kremlin, but also stresses that Russia is a global power and an important trading partner for Britain.The last foreign secretary to visit the country was Jack Straw in 2004, although Mr Miliband has held regular talks elsewhere with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.Prime Minister Gordon Brown also speaks frequently with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev at international summits. Nevertheless, MPs described the visit as a "critical turning point" in relations between the two countries.A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "Russia matters greatly to finding ways to address the major global challenges which we face." She added that reaching out to Russia's young people would be a "key part" of Mr Miliband's visit."Of course we do not always see eye to eye with Russia. Where we disagree we state our positions frankly," she said. "We want a stable, long term relationship with Russia. The Foreign Secretary is going to Russia to take that agenda forward."Relations between Britain and Russia took a turn for the worse after Mr Litvinenko was poisoned in London and Moscow subsequently refused to extradite chief suspect Andrei Lugovoi. Tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions followed.There has also been a long-running row over the Russian offices of the British Council, which has been forced to close all but one of its offices there over a tax dispute.Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Miliband was optimistic about the scope for productive talks about international issues. "I think we're going to have substantive discussion," he said. "We're going to talk substantively about Afghanistan, substantively about Iran, substantively about the Middle East."

Links:

Full news story

Post this:

Facebook

E-mail

Twitter

Mixx

StumbleUpon

FriendFeed

Recent related news

guardian.co.uk 2 hours ago - US	Israeli-Palestinian peace hopes rise as US envoy prepares to get talks moving • Mitchell's trip to region back on after concession • Blair expects resumption of indirect...
Huffington Post 9 hours ago - World	Israelis View Obama Favorably, Mixed On Netanyahu JERUSALEM — A poll released Friday shows that Israelis overwhelmingly have a favorable impression...
Huffington Post 20 hours ago - World	US And Russia Clash Over Iran Nuclear Plant MOSCOW — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her Russian counterpart clashed openly...
Huffington Post 1 day ago - World	Clinton Calls Israel Rift A Challenge MOSCOW — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has described a rift with Israel over a Jerusalem...
guardian.co.uk 3 days ago - Politics	Election 2010: your chance to get involved The Guardian is teaming up with two leading online communities with the aim of creating a network of...

Huffington Post 3 days ago - Politics	Haim Malka: Dangerous Brinkmanship Last week\'s clash between the Obama Administration and Netanyahu government should have come as...
IndiaTimes 3 days ago - Asia-Pacific	India gets Russian N-sub for 10 years Away from the spotlight on nuclear power reactors, aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and MiG-29Ks,...
guardian.co.uk 3 days ago - Sports	Sevilla v CSKA Moscow - live! Hit the auto-update thingyo for the latest posts, look in on Chelsea v Inter, view the live scores...
guardian.co.uk 3 days ago - Sports	CSKA Moscow ready to ensure a nerve-jangling night for Leonid Slutsky \| Jonathan Wilson Victory for CSKA Moscow in Sevilla would be a welcome boost for Russian football in financially...
Reuters India 4 days ago - Front Page	Russia offers India uranium field stake - agencies MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia offered India a stake in one of the world's largest uranium fields during...

Tweet the News!			84
Miliband to visit Russia next week
Twitter login: password: Register to store your twitter account details
There don't appear to be any related tweets. Be the first to tweet the news!

Tip: Sign up as a Member now - FREE access to news alerts, news bookmarking and more.

Select Region >