David Cameron held out the prospect of warmer relations with Russia last night but cautioned that the two countries still had difficulties to work through.
The Prime Minister raised the murder of Alexander Litvinenko at the start of his first face-to-face meeting with President Medvedev and said it was important that the pair were candid with each other.
Mr Cameron said there was an opportunity to improve London-Moscow relations as the pair delivered a largely upbeat report on their first meeting at the G8 summit of world leaders in Canada.
Mr Medvedev said they had agreed to stay in close personal touch and promised to give Downing Street his “personal and intense” attention.
After the 45-minute meeting, Mr Cameron said he would be following Mr Medvedev’s Twitter feed.
But the Prime Minister acknowledged that a full thaw would be difficult while Mr Litvinenko’s killer remained untried.
He said: “I think there is a real opportunity to put the bilateral relations on to a new footing to try (and) make a stronger footing and work through the issues where we have agreement and those we still have things to work through.”
Moscow has refused to comply with Scotland Yard’s request for the extradition of their prime suspect for the 2006 murder in London, Andrei Lugovy.
A diplomatic tit-for-tat over the past few years has seen rows over BP contracts and the closure of British Council offices in Russia.
Mr Medvedev appeared to acknowledge the difficulties, saying: “We agreed that certain changes must be made in our relations... We also agreed we will stay in touch personally.
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