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Senior Russian lawmaker expects no serious changes in Russia-UK relations under new PM

"Things cannot be worse than they are no," the chairman of the international committee of upper parliament house said in an interview

MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/. No serious changes could be expected in Russia-UK relation after Theresa May succeeds David Cameron as Britain’s prime minister, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Tuesday.

"Things cannot be worse than they are no. I don’t expect any serious breakthroughs in the Russian-British relations after the new prime minister takes office. Mrs. May, to my mind, is worth of her predecessor Cameron both in terms of harshness and it terms of advocating the principles of Britain’s foreign policy," Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the international committee of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house, said in an interview with the Kommersant FM radio station.

He said that even after the Brexit [a term used to refer to Britain’s decision to withdraw from the European Union], the United Kingdom will all the same remain the United States’ closes ally in Europe and a NATO pillar. However he did not rule out that without Britain the European Union may change its policy in relations with Russia.

"And as for Russia’s relations with Great Britain, I think they will remain is a state of freeze and profound crisis for years to come," Kosachev said.

The changeover in the UK’s leadership came from David Cameron’s decision to step down after a majority of UK voters opposed his stance on Britain staying in the European Union and voted in favor of Brexit at the June 23 referendum.

Following the referendum’s results, two-stage elections for a new Tory leader were held in the parliamentary faction of the ruling Conservative Party.

The MP’s second round of voting brought the candidates to a third and final stage, where the Conservative Party’s 150,000-strong membership was slated to choose between May as a clear favorite and Energy Minister, Andrea Leadsom. However, on the eve of the vote Leadsom quit the race, leaving May as the clear victor with no one to run against. The new PM is scheduled to move into 10 Downing Street on July 13.