Russia's ties with UK 'nearly dead', envoy says

Review labeling Moscow an acute threat compounds accusations

Russia's ambassador to Britain said diplomatic ties between the two countries are "nearly dead", with Andrei Kelin's appraisal following a UK strategic review that labeled Moscow an acute direct threat.

In an interview with Britain's LBC radio station aired on Sunday, he said the lack of dialogue between the two countries and the UK's accusations against Russia had effectively "demolished" most of the bilateral relationship.

The ambassador also criticized Britain's decision to bolster its nuclear weapons stockpile, as set out in the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, released on March 16.

Kelin said that if the UK were to proceed with the stockpile plan, it would violate the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Britain rejects this claim.

The strategic review envisages one of the biggest overhauls of security, defense and foreign policy in the UK since the end of the Cold War. The document says Russia would continue to pose a "full spectrum of threats" to the UK.

The strategic review, crafted over the past year as London recalibrates its foreign policy after the country's departure from the European Union, called for the UK to increase the number of its nuclear warheads to 260 from 180 by 2030.

It paints a pessimistic outlook for relations with Russia, which Britain blames for the alleged killing of one former KGB spy and the attempted murder of another with a weapons-grade nerve agent in 2018, both on British soil.

London has also blamed Kremlin-linked actors of orchestrating attempts to hack coronavirus research labs and of trying to interfere in its 2019 general election, Moscow has denied the claims.

'Sit down and talk'

Kelin, who took up his post in the British capital in November 2019, was adamant that there was "no single proof of explanation" for calling Russia an "acute threat", saying the UK government had repeatedly rebuffed Russian suggestions to "sit down and talk" about their myriad differences.

"We are preserving it mainly in the economic field and cultural field. But as for the political field, it is nearly dead," Kelin said.

He said the last time he spoke to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was in December 2019.

The top Russian envoy branded Britain's decision to reverse a previous commitment to reduce its nuclear arsenal as "a big surprise".

"You are increasing a number of warheads by 40 percent," he said of the proposal.

"This is a violation of the treaty of nonproliferation and many, many other agreements that are saying only a decline or a reduction in the number of nukes."

A British government spokesperson said that "modernizing and strengthening the UK's security and nuclear deterrence" was a key part of its integrated review.

"We can best protect ourselves and our NATO allies by the continued operation of a minimum, credible, independent nuclear deterrent," he said.

Kelin, when asked by the LBC interviewer about US President Joe Biden's characterization of Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "killer", said: "President Putin is a very wise statesman. He has brought together Russia after terrible things that had happened in the 90s."

Also on Sunday, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov landed in Moscow after being recalled for emergency consultations over Biden's strong language about his Russian counterpart.

Before Antonov took off from New York, he told agencies he would stay in Moscow "as long as necessary" and that several meetings were scheduled.

"The Russian side has always stressed that we are interested in the development of Russian-American relations to the same extent as our American colleagues are," he was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency Tass.