“The Britons had to acknowledge that the championship was a success and that, of course, has changed the attitude toward Russia and by the way toward the UK media. Because for three months everyone was being said that everything is bad in Russia, everything was portrayed in a bad light and then we were accused of an insufficient number of UK fans at the matches, where the English team played,” Yakovenko told the Rossiya 24 broadcaster on Saturday.
“We are now having meetings on our bidding Expo 2025 committee. And I must say that here in the United Kingdom on an expert level rather than on the state one, Russia is viewed as a very serious candidate to get this big international forum,” Yakovenko said.
Moreover, despite the existing differences in the Russian-UK ties, there are still some spheres where the cooperation is developing such as finances, the ambassador noted.
According to the official, the UK partners have expressed high interest in cooperating on creation of an international finance center in Moscow, where the Russian Central Bank will play a leading role.
The Russian-UK relations significantly deteriorated in March over attempted poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK city of Salisbury. The United Kingdom accused Russia of being involved in the attack, while Moscow has refuted the allegations and repeatedly pointed to the lack of evidence provided by London.
