MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia is highly interested in restoring relations with the United Kingdom, which are currently in a deplorable state, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
"Regarding specifically Britain, then, of course, we are interested in our relations, which are currently in a sorry plight, being livened up and becoming mutually beneficial. However, again, it was not Russia that rejected all cooperation in the area of fighting terrorism, it was not Russia that rejected all official contacts," Peskov told reporters.
On Tuesday, Russian and UK lawmakers agreed to resume inter-parliamentary contacts. At the close of the meeting, Alexei Pushkov, the chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma, said that the UK House of Commons International Committee was resuming contacts with Russia, but there was no serious dialogue taking place yet.
Relations between Russia and the West deteriorated following the 2014 crisis and subsequent conflict in Ukraine between the government in Kiev and independence supporters in the east of the country. Washington, Brussels and their allies have accused Moscow of meddling in the Ukrainian conflict and introduced several rounds of sanctions.
