Diplomatic relations between Russia and Great Britain in world history different periods

During the 2008 South Ossetia war between Russia and Georgia, the British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, visited the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi to meet with the president and said the UK's government and people "stood in solidarity" with the Georgian people.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband visited Moscow on November 2, 2009, to conduct negotiations with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. It is Mr. Miliband’s first visit to Moscow in five years. The relations between Russia and Britain have been worsening steadily during the recent years. Therefore, many observers referred to Miliband’s talks with Russia’s Lavrov as a “reset of relations.”

Indeed, the Russian-British relations could not be characterized as positive. Russia has been seriously concerned with the fact that disgraced oligarch Boris Berezovsky and emissary of Chechen terrorists, Akhmed Zakayev, found shelter in England.

The relations between the two countries were marred in 2006 after the death of former FSB agent and Berezovsky’s associate, Alexander Litvinenko. British special services suspected Andrey Lugovoy, another FSB officer, of being involved in Litvinenko’s case and demanded his delivery.

Russia refused and referred to the Constitution, which did not allow the delivery of Russian citizens to foreign countries. London went hysterical. The British authorities decided to take a series of measures against the Russians.

In the summer of 2007, Britain stopped the talks to ease the visa entry regime with Russia. British entrepreneurs were recommended not to invest in Russian projects. British PM Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband expressively refused to hold meetings with Russian officials.

The British also set out their concerns in connection with a requirement to bring the activities of the British Council in Russia in line with the Russian legislation. British officials strongly rejected the tax claims against the organization, which eventually led to the closure of nearly all divisions of the Council, except for the head office in Moscow.

The contacts resumed in the middle of 2008, but moot questions remained. Russia condemned Britain’s recognition of Kosovo’s independence, whereas Britain was one of the virulent critics of Russia’s actions in the war in South Ossetia.

This year saw an improvement of relations between the two countries. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Gordon Brown conducted negotiations in London within the scope of the G-20 meeting and then at the G-8 summit in Italy.

Mr. Miliband and Mr. Lavrov passed a joint statement on nuclear disarmament during the talks in Moscow on November 2, 2009. Both Russia and Britain supported the universal moratorium on nuclear tests. The officials also discussed the situation in Afghanistan.

In addition, Miliband was positive about Dmitry Medvedev’s idea to elaborate a new European security treaty. It was a landmark statement from a British official since nothing of the kind could be heard from London before. It brings up the idea that Britain is ready to listen to Russia’s opinion.

However, major problems remain unsolved. The work of the British Council in Russia will remain the way it is now, and Britain will not deliver Berezovsky and Zakayev to Russia.

The Lugovoy case remains unsolved too.

Miliband said that Britain had provided the proper documentation about the Litvinenko case to Russia, whilst Lavrov claimed that full information had not been passed to Russia.

After the visit of Miliband to Russia, the relations between two countries became normal and warm again. But, unfortunately, the situation is changing day to day… So, we should just hope that the connections between the countries will become stronger and calm.  
 
 
 
 
 

See appendix 7. 

Conclusion. 

Traditions and customs make a nation special. Some of them are old-fashioned and few people remember them, others are part of people’s life. I have learnt much about English culture, which depends on history. The past years have seen the most change in the British and the Russians way of life and, unfortunately, there are so few people nowadays, who are interested in it.

I guess that learning history is extremely useful nowadays. We must know the history of our country, we should proud of it not also because it expands our outlook, but especially because we should respect the traditions of country, where we live. Foreign relations between different countries are a great part of each country’s history. Diplomatic relations between Russia and Great Britain developed hundreds years… They include not only alliances and rivalry in different wars, but diplomatic marriage and important meetings, which are typical nowadays.

It’s known that there were some diplomatic marriages, when Russian and British royal families connected themselves with relative connections. From my point of view, this way of establishment diplomatic relations between the countries was the most useful of all.

Relations between Russia and The United Kingdom nowadays are extremely changeable. Nobody knows, what will happen tomorrow. But the only thing everybody is sure in is that it would be better if the relations between our countries will always be friendly and calm.  

Working at my research I have learnt a lot of important facts, which become really useful for me. Now I understand better the relations between the countries and I have expanded my outlook not only in the history of Russia, but especially in the British history and I have discovered some connections between them.

Thanks to my work, I’ve practiced in working with books and in writing researches, and also it gave me practice in English language, which is very helpful for me.

I suppose that it is very important and helpful to know a lot about other countries. It gives you an opportunity to communicate with people of the country the language we study. Thanks to my research I know much about the lifestyle and the history of the English. To sum up I should say that in spite it was rather difficult, I feel satisfied and delighted with my work because I can express my own opinion of the problem and comment on it, I’ve learned a lot about relations between England and Russia. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Bibliography. 

1. Mayor M. / «Longman Exams Dictionary» / изд-во «Pearson. Longman» 2007 г., с. 721
2. Summers D. / «Longman» dictionary of contemporary English /
3. Thompson D. / «Oxford Russian dictionary» / изд-во «Oxford. University press»
4. Буковская М. / «A dictionary of English proverbs in modern use» / изд-во «Русский язык», Москва, 1985г., c. 15, 24, 68

5) «Вторая Мировая война» http://www.2worldwar2.

6) Григорян В.Г. / «Романовы. Биографический справочник» / изд-во «Астрель», Москва, 2006г., с. 261-263, 322-325

     7) «Дипломатические отношения между Россией и Великобританией в настоящее время» http://www.fapmc.ru

8) Казанцев Ю.И. / «Международные отношения и внешняя политика России» / изд-во «Феникс», Ростов-на-Дону, 2002г., с. 26-32, 173

9) Куриленко Ю.В. / «400 тем по английскому языку» / изд-во «бао-пресс», Москва, 2006г., с. 275, 304, 315

10) Новичков В. / «Европа» энциклопедия/ изд-во «Педагогика-Пресс», Москва, 2002г., с. 5-18

11) «Первая Мировая война» http://www.firstworldwar.

12) Шитова Л. / «English idioms and phrasal verbs» / изд-во «Anthology», Санкт-Петербург, 2007г., с.115,155 
 
 
 
 
 

Appendix 1.

The first diplomatic relations.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Appendix 2.

Seven Years' War

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Appendix 3.

The First World War. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Appendix 4.

The Second World War. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Appendix  5.

Diplomatic marriages.

Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Mariya Aleksandrovna. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Appendix 6.

Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova and Nicholay II.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Appendix 7.

Diplomatic relations nowadays.

 

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