UK’s easyJet no-frills airline has launched its daily service to Moscow Domodedovo from London’s Gatwick Airport on Monday, 18^th March. easyJet normally flies to wherever it wants in deregulated European markets, whereas services to Russia are highly regulated according to very old-fashioned bilateral agreements which only allowed services by designated carriers, commented industry newsletter Anna Aero.

The Assistant Coroner, presiding over the Litvinenko inquest, judge Sir Robert Owen “reluctantly” postponed the start of the inquest into the death of Mr. Alexander Litvinenko to October 2^nd this year in the face of foot-dragging by British government departments to deliver information and the process of obtaining up to 15,000 pages of evidence from Russia’s Investigative Committee. Mr. Owen made his ruling at the end of a four and a half hour pre-Inquest hearing at the High Court in London on Thursday.

The monument to the world’s first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin which was erected in London in July 2011 to mark the 50th anniversary of the cosmonaut’s visit to Great Britain has left its current temporary location near Trafalgar Square, in front of the building of the British Council on The Mall. The monument will be permanently installed on the premises of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. The Observatory is the main astronomic organization of Great Britain and, naturally, the most appropriate place for the statue. Greenwich is also known as the zero-meridian, a starting point of the longitude and time zones of the globe.

By William Dunkerley

The British case against the Russian state in the Alexander Litvinenko matter seems to be teetering on the verge of collapse. Litvinenko is a reputed former Russian spy who died in London in 2006 suspiciously of poisoning. The London coroner has been unable to reach a conclusion on whether the death was a homicide. Nevertheless for years the government has been pursuing a legal case that contends Litvinenko was murdered at the behest of the Russian government.

Brian Redford, the Director for Europe at the UK Border Agency, told a meeting of the Westminster Russia Forum (http://wrforum.org.uk/) last night that the 160 UK Visa application centres worldwide were open to Russians in transit and could process their visas. This means that Russians seeking a visa to the UK do not have to visit the five Visa Application Centres in Russia run by UKBA’s commercial partner VFS.

BSR has been moving towards launching its eponymous magazine, BSR Russia Magazine, and as we have positioned it as countering the Cold War attitudes towards Russia so prevalent in western media we have approached various businesses large and small in Russia and the UK with an offer to participate by advertising in the launch issue and “help counter the old stereotypes about Russia so prevalent in international media”.

While UK Prime minister David Cameron was in Mumbai, nine hour flight from London , proclaiming that he wanted India to open up its economy so British companies could help build hospitals, construct roads and provide universities a Russian delegation from the City of Moscow, a mere three hours flight from Heathrow were in London declaring they wanted British help to build tech centres, hospitals, invest in infrastructure and develop schools that would teach in English.

On Monday evening in London the Moscow City government kicked off its first ever international road show aimed at dispelling the image of corruption, congested traffic and cumbersome bureaucracy which are perceived as barriers to new companies entering Russia’s economic powerhouse. The roadshow, facilitated by international consultants KPMG, rolls out in London where Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko and Mayor of London Boris Johnson are preparing for a massive cultural exchange next year with days of Moscow in London.