It was not an easy decision for British Prime Minister David Cameron to visit Russia and engage in the first high-level meetings between leaders of the two countries, since the 2006 Alexander Litvinenko affair when a former KGB officer was murdered in London by radiation poisoning, presumably at the hands of the Russian intelligence services.
The Russians have refused to extradite Andrei Lugovoy. the person suspected by the British authorities of committing the murder. The suspect has done well for himself and is currently a member of the Russian Duma, a fact which rubs salt in the British wounds.
Both the United States and the European Union are imposing targeted sanctions against people suspected of maltreating the Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Moscow prison due to deliberate lack of medical treatment. Magnitsky had uncovered tax fraud by the police and tax agencies, who then promptly accused Magnitsky of similar crimes.
All this comes after the British involvement in Libya in defense of freedom and against high-handed tyrannical practices.
On the other hand, David Cameron could not ignore the fact that France was selling warships to Russia, the Russians and the Americans had just cut a major oil deal, while the Russian authorities had staged a police raid on BP a British company.
Given the state of the economy in Britain, Cameron obviously felt that one could not ignore the Russians.The United States first recognized the Soviet Union during the Great Depression.
Cameron met with Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin. On the Litvinenko affair, the two leaders agreed to disagree, with Medvedev pointing out that Russia isn't exactly pleased that London hosted wanted Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky and Akhmed Zakayev, the former deputy prime minister of Chechnya during its rebellion.
The British Prime Minister said that the issues had not been ignored, but it was necessary to work around them. Suspected complicity of Russian intelligence in Litvinenko's murder means ties between the British and Russian security agencies would not resume. However this would not present an impediment to closer ties between the police of both countries when dealing with criminal matters.
Putin played the cordial host and remarked that it was good to see Britain's leaders back, as Britain has been a traditional trade partner of Russia. The two sides signed deals worth 242,000,000 sterling Russia announced that it would drop its ban on British beef and the British in turn promised to facilitate entrance visas to Russian businessmen