Russia has boasted of resetting its relations with the United States but ties with London are in similar need of surgery after cloak-and-dagger diplomatic rows that could have come from the pages of an espionage thriller.
The fatal poisoning of a Kremlin critic in London, a row over the status of the British Council and a dispute over the ownership of Russian-British oil major TNK-BP all contributed to an unprecedented degradation in ties.
The distrust remains, with Britain still calling on Russia to extradite the KGB agent-turned-lawmaker it accuses of murdering Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, possibly by lacing his tea with radioactive polonium in a London hotel.

Blaming Britain for measures adopted against Russia, Moscows ambassador to London Yuri Fedotov said that the problems have still not been solved.

In July a high-flying British diplomat posted in Russia resigned his post after a video emerged allegedly showing him in bed with two prostitutes in what British tabloids said was a honey trap laid by the ex-KGB.

See the full article from “The News International”



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