PM Pursues Litvinenko Murder on Moscow Visit

Sky News

David Cameron has insisted that Britain will not give up on bringing the killer of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko to justice, as he kicked off his visit to Russia.

But the Prime Minister said the two governments had to end the “tit-for-tat culture” and work together despite festering tensions over the dissident’s murder.

It is the first visit by a British leader since the murder of Mr Litvinenko in London in 2006.
The poisoning of the Kremlin critic caused relations between the two countries to hit a post-Cold War low.
The wider aim of David Cameron’s visit is to increase trade and improve his relationship with the country’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, and Prime Minister Putin.

In the speech at Moscow State University Mr Cameron told a group of business people in Russia that the two countries need to rebuild economic ties so that “together we are stronger”.

The PM revealed that Britain will now support Russia’s bid for ascension to the World Trade Organisation, and announced £250m in new business deals between the two countries.

But much importance is being placed on his expected meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Whitehall officials recently revealed that there has been no high-level contact with Russia’s prime minister for four years.

Mr Cameron is under pressure to raise issues like the murder of Alexander Litvinenko and concerns surrounding Russia’s failure to protect business from corruption.

William Browder, the founder of UK-based Hermitage Capital Management was formerly the biggest foreign investor in Russia. His lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, died an agonising death in a Moscow jail after investigating alleged state corruption. Mr Browder told Sky News he believes the British Government has failed to tackle Russia on human rights issues.

“One of his big agenda items is to increase British investment into Russia. I was the largest British investor into Russia with more than £3bn invested. “In late 2005, the Russian government expelled me from Russia, expropriated my investment companies, arrested, tortured and killed my 37-year-old lawyer who investigated the crime.”

He added: “The Russian government are now engaged in a full scale cover-up. “The US government has imposed travel sanctions against the Russian officials involved.”

Mr Browder is calling on the British Government to do the same.

Others believe Mr Cameron should draw a line under the Litvinenko affair in order to re-establish cooperation between the two countries’ intelligence services.

In a briefing ahead of the visit, the Russian ambassador in London, Alexander Yakovenko, said: “We are waiting for a decision from the British side on re-establishing full cooperation with all the Russian law enforcement bodies and special services.

“At this stage Russia and the UK are not cooperating in this area. We believe that this is in the interests of both countries and in the interests of all countries in the world.” займы на карту без отказа микрозаймы онлайн https://zp-pdl.com/fast-and-easy-payday-loans-online.php https://zp-pdl.com/get-a-next-business-day-payday-loan.php hairy girl