The cultural and civic society ties between the United Kingdom and Russia remain solid despite political tensions between the countries, with business cooperation even having grown 45 percent compared to 2014, Nicholas Cobb, the chairman of the Westminster Russia Forum, a non-profit think tank promoting UK-Russian cultural, commercial and political relations, told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th July, 2019) The cultural and civic society ties between the United Kingdom and Russia remain solid despite political tensions between the countries, with business cooperation even having grown 45 percent compared to 2014, Nicholas Cobb, the chairman of the Westminster Russia Forum, a non-profit think tank promoting UK-Russian cultural, commercial and political relations, told Sputnik.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and UK Prime Minister Theresa May met in late June on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka. A viral photo from the meeting depicting a seemingly unenthusiastic handshake on May's part prompted media outlets and blogs calling her demeanor "frosty" and "awkward." Following the meeting, Downing Street issued a statement saying that bilateral relations would not normalize until Russia stopped "the irresponsible and destabilizing activity."
"The picture sumps up exactly what the official relationship is. But that's only the one side of the relationship. That's the political relationship between the two governments. So whatever both governments want to say to each other, it's perfectly up to them. The reality is that the relationship between the United Kingdom and Russia is still strong in terms of civic society, culture, media, the arts, and business. Business relations are increasing and are up 45 percent from the drop in 2014 after Crimea," Cobb said, asked whether there were chances that the bilateral ties would normalize following the meeting between May and Putin.
At the same time, many people in the United Kingdom want to see relations between London and Moscow improve, the chairman noted.
"I'd say one in three would not be interested in a relationship, the other third would be indifferent, but not hostile. And the other third would be very keen to see improvement. I think there is certainly a desire in the United Kingdom to have better ties with Russian people," Cobb said.
Russia-UK relations hit a new low in the wake of the poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury last March. The United Kingdom and its allies have accused Moscow of orchestrating the attack with what UK experts claimed was the A234 nerve agent. Russian authorities have strongly rejected the allegations as groundless.
Despite having unstable relations at the political level, London and Moscow have continued to cooperate in culture and trade. This year, the countries are holding a cross Year of Music, while bilateral trade amounted to $13.7 billion in 2018, compared to $12.7 billion in 2017.
