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Russia–United Kingdom relations (Russian: Российско-британские отношения) is the bilateral relationship between the countries of Russia and the United Kingdom and their predecessor states. Spanning nearly five centuries, it has often switched from a state of alliance to rivalry. Presently there is a diplomatic row going on over extraditions
According to a poll conducted by The Gallup Organization, the United Kingdom has one of the most favourable opinions of Russia in Western Europe along with Greece and Iceland.[1]
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The Kingdom of England and Tsardom of Russia established relations in 1553 when English navigator Richard Chancellor arrived in Arkhangelsk – at which time Mary I ruled England and Ivan the Terrible ruled Russia. He returned to England and was sent back to Russia in 1555, the same year the Muscovy Company was established. The Muscovy Company held a monopoly over trade between England and Russia until 1698.
During the Grand Embassy of Peter I in 1697–1698, Tsar Peter I of Russia visited Britain for three months.
The Kingdom of Great Britain (1707—1800) and later the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1800–1922) had increasingly important ties with the Russian Empire (1721—1917), after Tsar Peter I brought Russia into European affairs and declared himself an emperor.
During the series of general European wars of the eighteenth century, the two empires found themselves as sometime allies and sometime enemies. The two states fought on the same side during War of the Austrian Succession (1740—1748), but on opposite sides during Seven Years' War (1756—1763), although did not at any time engage in the field.
The outbreak of the French Revolution and its attendant wars temporarily united constitutionalist Britain and autocratic Russia in an ideological alliance against French republicanism. Britain and Russia attempted to halt the French but the failure of their joint invasion of the Netherlands in 1799 precipitated a change in attitudes.
Britain occupied Malta, while the Emperor Paul I of Russia was Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller. That led to the never-executed Indian March of Paul, which was a secret project of a planned allied Russo-French expedition against the British possessions in India.
The two countries fought each other (albeit only with some very limited naval combat) during the Anglo-Russian War (1807-1812), after which Britain and Russia became allies against Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars.
The Eastern Question and the fate of the Ottoman Empire became of interest to both countries, and they both intervened in the Greek War of Independence (1821—1829), eventually forcing the London peace treaty on the belligerents.
The issues surrounding the Ottomans were not resolved, however, and lead to the Crimean War (1853—1856) fought by Britain, France, and the Ottomans against Russia.
Rivalry between Britain and Russia developed over Central Asia in the Great Game of the late nineteenth century, as Russia desired warm-water ports on the Indian Ocean while Britain wanted to prevent Russian troops from gaining a potential invasion route to India. The Pandjeh Incident caused a war scare in 1885. There was cooperation in Asia, however, as the two countries intervened in China during the Boxer Rebellion (1899—1901).
In October 1905 a Russian fleet mistakenly engaged a number of British fishing vessels in the north sea resulting in Britain briefly beginning preparation for war.[2] This included a flotilla of Holland class and A class submarines leaving harbour to engage the fleet before they were recalled.[2]
Anglo-Russian Entente and the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 made both countries part of the Triple Entente. Both countries were then part of the subsequent alliance against the Central Powers in the First World War.
After the Russian Revolution, Britain sent troops to Russia in the failed Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.
Following the withdrawal of British troops from Russia, negotiations for trade began, and on March 16, 1921, trade agreement was concluded between the two countries.[3] The United Kingdom recognised the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or Soviet Union, 1917—1991) on February 1, 1924. Relations between then and the Second World War were tense, typified by the Zinoviev letter incident. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken in 1927, and restored in 1929.
In 1938 a few Western countries, including Britain, signed the Munich Agreement with Nazi Germany. The USSR opposed to the pact and refused to recognize Germany's annexation of part of Czechoslovakia.[4]
The Soviets felt excluded from Western consideration and vulnerable to possible hostilities by the West or Germany, and in response the USSR signed the Nazi-Soviet pact. This complicated relations with Britain as the British leadership was sympathetic to Finland in her war against the USSR (the Winter War), yet could not afford to alienate the Soviets while an attack from Germany was imminent. The USSR however supplied fuel oil to the Nazis which was used for Hitler's Luftwaffe in the Blitz against the United Kingdom. Because of the Soviet connivance with the Nazis, Hitler's troops were able to overrun most of Western Europe in the summer of 1940.
In 1941, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, attacking the USSR. The USSR thereafter became one of the Allies of World War II along with Britain, fighting against the Axis Powers. The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran secured the oil fields in Iran from falling into Axis hands. The Arctic convoys transported supplies between Britain and the USSR during the war.
Following the end of the Second World War, relations between the Soviet and the Western bloc deteriorated quickly. British prime minister Churchill said that the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe was like 'an iron curtain'. Relations were generally tense during the ensuing Cold War, typified by spying and other covert activities. The British and American Venona project was established in 1942 for cryptanalysis of messages sent by Soviet intelligence. Soviet spies were later discovered in Britain, such as Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five spy ring, which was operating in England until 1963.
The Soviet spy agency, the KGB, was suspected of the murder of Georgi Markov in London in 1978. A High ranking KGB official, Oleg Gordievsky, defected to London in 1985.
British prime minister Margaret Thatcher pursued a strong anti-communist policy in concert with Ronald Reagan during the 1980s, in contrast with the détente policy of the 1970s, although relations became warmer after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985.
After the collapse of the USSR, relations between Britain and the new Russian Federation were initially warm. In the 21st century, however, while trade and human ties have proliferated, diplomatic ties have suffered due to allegations of spying, and extradition disputes; thus escalating political tensions between London and Moscow.
The Foundations of Geopolitics, a Russian textbook published in 1997, has been one of the most influential books among Russian military, police, and statist foreign policy elites.[5] The book argues that Russia must isolate the United Kingdom from the politics of continental Europe.[5]
In 2003, Russia requested the extradition of "tycoon" Boris Berezovsky and Chechen separatist Akhmed Zakayev, but Britain refused, having given them both political asylum.[6]
In early 2006, Russia accused UK diplomats of espionage. Along with accusing British diplomats of spying in Moscow with the help of hi-tech electronic rock, Russia alleged that British secret service agents had been funding Russian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – everything from human rights organisations, to political foundations, or civil liberty groups.[7]
In late 2006, former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in London by radioactive metalloid, Polonium-210 and died 3 weeks later. Britain requested the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi from Russia to face charges over Litvinenko's death, Russia refused, stating their constitution does not allow extradition of their citizens to foreign countries. Britain then expelled four Russian diplomats, shortly followed by Russia expelling four British diplomats,[8] the dispute then continued to escalate over the following months. As of 19 May 2008 the head of Counter-Terrorism at the British Crown Prosecution Service, Sue Hemming, said: "The extradition request is still current.[9]
In July 2007, The Crown Prosecution Service announced that Boris Berezovsky would not face charges in the UK for talking to The Guardian about plotting a "revolution" in his homeland. Kremlin officials called it a "disturbing moment" in Anglo-Russian relations. Berezovsky is still a wanted man in Russia, accused of embezzlement and money laundering.[10]
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| British Eurofighter escorting a Russian Tu-95MS bomber[11] | |
In a reminder of the Cold War, Russia recommenced its long range air patrols of the Tupolev Tu-95 bomber aircraft in August 2007. These patrols have neared British airspace, requiring RAF fighter jets to "scramble" and intercept them.[12][13]
In November 2007, a report by the head of security service MI5 Jonathan Evans, it was stated that "since the end of the Cold War we have seen no decrease in the numbers of undeclared Russian intelligence officers in the UK – at the Russian Embassy and associated organisations – conducting covert activity in this country."[14]
In late 2007, Russia feared that some of its artwork, due to be shown at an exhibition in London, could be seized because of disputes about their ownership. It refused to send the art to the UK until a law was passed by the British government to protect it, initiating fears that the art would not be shown at the exhibition at all. A law was eventually passed and the art was shown.[15]
In January 2008, Russia ordered two offices of the British Council situated in Russia to shut down, accusing them of tax violations. Britain has refuted this claim and the council initially tried to keep their offices open. Work has been suspended at the offices, the council citing "intimidation" by the Russian authorities as the reason. The "Chief Executive" of the council said 20 of their Russian staff had been interviewed by the Russian security service (FSB) and a further 10 were visited at their homes by tax police in the night of January 15. On the same night, the son of former British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock, who holds the post of "office director" at the Saint Petersburg branch, was detained for an hour by Russian authorities, allegedly for driving the wrong way up a one-way street and smelling of alcohol.[16][17] However, later in the year a Moscow court threw out most of the tax claims made against the British Council, ruling them invalid.[18]
In 2008, MI5 warned that Russia is a country which is under suspicion of committing murder on British streets.[19]
During the 2008 South Ossetia war between Russia and Georgia, the British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, visited the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi to meet with the president and said the UK's government and people "stood in solidarity" with the Georgian people.[20]
In November 2009, Miliband visited Russia in an attempt the rift with Russia, he described the state of the current relationship as "respectful disagreement".[21]
Earlier in 2009, then then Solicitor-General, Vera Baird, personally decided that the property of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, which had been the subject of a legal dispute following the decision of the administering Bishop and half its clergy and lay adherents to move to the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, would have to remain with the Moscow Patriarchate. She was forced to reassure concerned Members of Parliament that her decision had been made only on legal grounds, and that diplomatic and foreign policy questions had played no part. Baird's determination of the case was however endorsed by the Attorney-General Baroness Patricia Scotland. It attracted much criticism. [22] [23] However, questions continue to be raised that Baird's decision was designed not to offend the Putin government in Russia. [24]
In 2010 MI5 warned that Russian spy operations in the United Kingdom are at Cold War levels.[25]
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