LONDON, February 10. /TASS/. The Russian-UK trade turnover has been on the rise for the fourth consecutive year despite complicated political relations between the two states, Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrei Kelin told Russian reporters.
"Our trade turnover has been growing, gaining another 15-20% in 2020 as compared to the previous year. We are having consistent growth for the fourth consecutive year," the Russian diplomat said, adding that last year’s trade turnover is estimated at about $23 billion.
At the same time, he said the legal framework of Russian-UK relations, including in the economic sphere, was not affected by the Kingdom’s decision to quit the European Union.
"Earlier, it appeared that we will have to rebuild the entire legal framework of relations. But the agreement [on Brexit terms] is not as important for us as it is for other countries. At the moment, the United Kingdom has to create new relations with those who earlier had intense economic and trade ties with it, namely the European Union itself and its members, as well as with the United States, China, Turkey, Japan and a wide range of others," he said, adding that Russia was "not in this category."
"Our economic relations with the United Kingdom are fairly well-established, and do not fall under regulations applied to the European Union. Probably, some slight changes and a partial renewal of the legal framework can be expected, but not at this point. This will happen when the United Kingdom’s relations with its closest neighbors are established and settled," Kelin said.
The UK left the EU on February 1, 2020 after three years of negotiating exit conditions. Brussels and London have agreed on a transitional period, during which all European standards applied to the United Kingdom. It expired on January 1, 2021.