"The Russian officials at the embassy said that they are keen, the British side is keen to explore opportunities for more cooperation in space and that's all in technology, which is very encouraging. I am going to be writing to the foreign secretary based on those comments. Because I had a British company, who came to see me yesterday, who were working with Russian space program… at Baikonur," Kawczynski said when answering a question about the changes in UK-Russia relations.
The lawmaker stressed the negative impact of the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine and anti-Russian sanctions, adding that, in his opinion, the United Kingdom was loosing about 10-12 billion pounds ($14-17 billion) every year due to the restrictions imposed on Russia.
Kawczynski also noted that Russia had managed to adapt to Western sanctions and found new trade partners, namely China, Indonesia, Brazil and India, increasing economic cooperation with these states to record levels.
"I have been invited to Moscow on June 4-5, because there is an international conference of parliamentarians from around the world… I am seeing whether I am going to be allowed to leave the parliament," Kawczynski told Russian reporters.
Kawczynski noted that that the dates of the conference fall on Monday and Tuesday, when the UK lawmakers usually have voting procedures. He added that if the visit takes place, he will be accompanied by one or two lawmakers.
The Russian lower house, the State Duma, has proposed to hold an international forum on the development of the parliamentarian system on June 4-5. On January 26, Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin invited South Korean lawmakers to the event.