By KUNA,
London : Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called for a new era of relations with Britain following a torrid two years which saw the murder of a high-profile emigre and battles over British business interests.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian newspaper and papers from the G8 countries Thursday, his first with foreign newspapers since taking office last May, Medvedev said Russia and Britain had endured worse crises in the past and it was time to move on.
“International relations always require people to come towards each other,” he said.
“There has to be a willingness to find compromises and listen to your partner.
Russia is ready to move, but we expect corresponding steps from our British partners.” Medvedev said he had “a calm and good conversation” with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the phone recently and was looking forward to seeing him at next week’s G8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan.
He has sent a leading adviser to London to prepare for a bilateral Anglo-Russian meeting during the summit which he expected to be “comprehensive and useful.” Brown is likely to raise concerns about the treatment of British Petroleum (BP) and its international staff in Russia, the Guardian said.
Last March, the FSB, Russia’s post-KGB spy agency, raided the Moscow offices of BP and a joint venture, TNK-BP.
The British company has also faced problems with the tax police and the interior ministry.
Last Tuesday, TNK-BP said its international experts were being forced to leave Russia in a visa dispute.
Yesterday, Russia said some of the executives could stay, but Brown’s spokesman said the firm’s treatment “sends a worrying signal to investors about doing business in Russia.” Under Vladimir Putin, Medvedev’s predecessor, Britain’s relations with Russia fell to the worst level of any major European country after the UK Crown Prosecution Service accused Andrei Lugovoi, a Moscow-based former KGB agent, of murdering emigre Alexander Litvinenko.
The two countries expelled four of each other’s diplomats and last January, Russia forced Britain to close the British Council’s offices in Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.
The British Council recently said it was going to court in Russia over an “exorbitant” tax demand.
Medvedev described the British Council in Russia as a “nest of spies” in an interview in the magazine “Itogi” before he took office, but when reminded of that by the Guardian this week, he laughed.
Declining to mention the British Council or Britain’s demand to have Lugovoi sent for trial in London, he accentuated the positive by switching the issue to economics.
“We’ve never had such excellent economic links before. Enormous investments are being made,” he said.
“On issues where we disagree … I think we must discuss them face to face.” He said he liked London and had been there “at least five times”, including on holiday.
His comments came during a 90-minute meeting with eight journalists, one from each G8 nation, in the Kremlin.
He took a tough line on issues from Kosovo to Iran, accusing the EU and Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General, of making mistakes.