LONDON, November 2. /TASS/. Establishing pragmatic working ties with Russia would better reflect London’s official external policy concept than anti-Russian sentiments, which still determine the UK government’s actions, the Russian embassy in London said on Thursday.
The statement came in response to UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s speech at the "Policy Exchange" think tank on Wednesday, in which the top diplomat has dwelled on the shifts in the global balance of power.
"As the expulsion of Russian diplomats following the Salisbury provocation is once again presented as the one and only practical "achievement" of the latest UK foreign policy efforts, it is highly regrettable that anti-Russian sentiment continues to guide the UK Conservative government," the embassy said in a statement.
"We believe it is a wrong path. Building pragmatic working relations with Russia, which does not represent any threat to the UK and strives to maintain honest and equal dialogue with all the international actors, would better fit into the "Global Britain" policy," the statement says.
Russian diplomats agreed to the UK top diplomat’s view on global trends.
"The centre of the economic power shifts to the East, the BRICS countries as well as a lot of Asian economies are on the rise, and with economic power comes greater political influence," the embassy said. "The speech reflects growing awareness in the UK political classes that the place and role of the West in the shaping of the international order is in decline. The world is changing rapidly, and the UK will have to adapt to the new reality."
"In this regard it is most striking that the UK foreign policy, judging by Mr Hunt’s key points, is going to concentrate on the historic West, building some sort of an "invisible chain" based on values linking the same Western group of countries," the statement reads. "While declaring openness and outward-looking character of Britain the Foreign Secretary offers no vision for the principles of interaction with others.".