While acknowledging "current misunderstandings and disagreements on some issues," Ambassador Yakovenko says that "the cooling of Russian-British relations has not only impaired bilateral contacts; it is in stark contrast with the ..... active co-operation between Moscow and London on a broad spectrum of international problems."
"The mistrust needs to be overcome by the combined efforts of the governments with the wider involvement of civil society," he says.
The Ambassador believes the two country's are "United by challenges" including international terrorism and the proliferation of WMD, the drug trade, organised crime and illegal immigration.
He believes Russia and Britain need to have an "open and honest talk", about the "future of democracy and sustainable models of socio-economic development in the 21st century."
British-Russian relations are dogged by the 2006 death in London from Polonium radiation poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB Lt. Colonel in the employ of self-exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky. The British claimed Litvinenkowas murdered and the Crown Prosecution Service has identified Alexander Lugovoi as the main suspect. Lugovoi, another former KGB officer and subsequently employee of Berezovsky is now a member of the Russian Duma and Russia refuses to extradite him in line with the constitution.
Similarly, British judges consistently refuse to extradite Russian citizens from the UK to face criminal charges in Russia.
"The estrangement at an official level has become ever more out of touch with reality," asserts Ambassador Yakovenko. "This has started to be recognised in the British capital . Hence also the conclusion drawn by President Dmitry Medvedev following his conversation with Prime Minister David Cameron in June 2010 in Huntsville, when he said: 'UK-Russia relations require adjustment and top-level attention',” wrote the ambassador.
The task facing the British delegation, led by Cameron, to Russia later this month "is to build on the level of co-operation that has been achieved through a dialogue of mutual respect, and to expand significantly the scope of our collaboration. The co-ordinated response of Moscow and London to the challenges of our time and the ability of the countries’ leaders to understand and identify with one another will have a major impact on the harmonisation of our own relations and modern international relations as a whole".
Trade and investment is a major key to developing relations and the Russian Trade Mission in London is actively involved in planning the Cameron visit with his party of accompanying businessmen.
Ambassador Yakovenko wrote that Russian-British collaboration in the sphere of trade and investment has hardly been affected by the political situation.
"I would especially like to note that today, probably as never before, Russia and the UK are at a stage where their paths are converging. This is a particular instance of the global tendency towards synthesis and fusion. The common strategic aim is to encourage economic growth through modernisation and innovation, to expand foreign trade and attract capital from abroad. Both countries, like many of our other partners in the northern hemisphere, need to find sources of growth and new ways of increasing their competitiveness".
