A promise of Russian-British détente

The recent meetings of Russia’s president and foreign minister with Britain’s new government signals a promise of a boost to political relations between the two countries, which have been de facto frozen since the so-called “Litvinenko case.” What lies behind the political winter when economic and people-to-people contacts are thriving? What is the role of the countries’ imperial past in the present maneuvering? What do we want to achieve by improved relations? Chief Editor of RussiaProfile.org Andrei Zolotov Jr. discusses these issues with Alexey Gromyko, deputy director of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences.