Andrei Kelin said that the British authorities do not leave room for political dialogue with their actions
Russian ambassador to London Andrei Kelin said in an interview with the British radio station LBC on Sunday that Russia and Britain continue to cooperate on economic and cultural issues, but in the political plane, relations between the countries are “practically dead”.
“The British government has destroyed a major part of our relations, we are maintaining them mainly in the economic and cultural spheres. As for the political field, they are practically dead”, – the head of the Russian diplomatic mission in the United Kingdom pointed out.
According to Kelin, Britain has chosen a “hostile course” towards Russia which “is not understood” by the Russian side. The ambassador also drew attention to the fact that London mainly focuses on accusations of human rights violations against Russia. According to the diplomat, such a position is unconstructive because “there is no country where there are no cases of human rights violations.”
“Every country has its own problems and its own approaches. Human rights is a complex sphere, but the issue is related to the sovereignty of the state”, – Kelin said.
Kelyn also added that the British authorities by their actions leave no space for political dialogue.
“If you read carefully the Comprehensive Review of Security, Defence and Foreign Policy of the United Kingdom, you will see that it does not mention dialogue with Russia at all. Accusations, accusations and accusations. This is very different from other strategy documents, even from the 2015 British strategy and from the NATO strategy”, – he stressed.