The Kremlin gave Britain warning yesterday that there would be no improvement in relations until it abandoned Cold War-hostility towards Russia.

The Foreign Ministry said that Britain had become increasingly critical of Russia, urged on by Boris Berezovsky, the billionaire anti-Kremlin campaigner, and other political refugees.

Its annual diplomatic review appeared to dash hopes of a fresh start between London and Moscow once Dmitri Medvedev succeeds Vladimir Putin as President in May. The ministry accused Gordon Brown’s Government of holding outdated attitudes in its dealings with Russia.

“There has been no decisive moving away from the stereotypes of the Cold War era in the political policies of the British elite,” it said. “If this problem is not resolved it will be hard to count on the normalisation of Russian-British relations.” It said relations had worsened as a result of the decision by David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, to expel four Russian diplomats last July. The envoys were expelled after Mr Putin refused to extradite Andrei Lugovoy, the man suspected of murdering Alexander Litvinenko, the dissident former spy, with radioactive polonium-210 in London in November 2006.

Don't mess with our madrigals, Vladimir

The British Council is a superb propagandist for our way of life and culture

Multimedia

• Putin's summer snaps

BACKGROUND

• Dressed to kill: Putin forces back in fashion

• President Putin and the patriarchs

• No wonder they like Putin

• Putin’s plans signal start of new nuclear race

Related Links

• US legal system 'worse than Russia'

• Jaw-jaw in the sauna with Vladimir Putin

• Medvedev: I’ll pull the strings

The ministry said that tensions had been fanned by Mr Berezovsky and Akhmed Zakayev, the Chechen separatist envoy, who have political asylum in London. Both men are wanted in Russia but British courts have rejected extradition requests, ruling that they would not face a fair trial.

“British authorities have become more critical in their comments on Russia. The main emphasis is being placed on the theme of the 'worsening situation in human rights and democratic freedoms in Russia’,” the Foreign Ministry said.

About the only bright spot in relations was business, which continued to grow strongly despite the frosty political atmosphere. The annual report said that British companies invested $20.7 billion in Russia’s economy in the first nine months of last year, three times the amount invested in the whole of 2006.

Trade relations between Britain and Russia also grew strongly, up 16 per cent in the first three quarters of 2007 in comparison with the same period in 2006.

Britain’s deteriorating relationship with Russia stood in stark contrast to the ministry’s warm comments about other leading European states. Russia enjoyed a “strategic partnership” with France, relations with Italy were “mutually advantageous” and Spain was in the “solid nucleus” of Russia’s partners in Europe.

The ministry said that Russia also enjoyed strong relations with Germany both in business and politics, although it chafed at Chancellor Angela Merkel’s criticism of parliamentary elections in December as undemocratic.

Relations between Britain and Russia plunged to their worst since the end of the Cold War after last year’s expulsions. Moscow retaliated by expelling four British diplomats.

Mr Brown and Mr Putin have not met and have not even talked to each other since the President telephoned Mr Brown to congratulate him on becoming Prime Minister last June.

Mr Brown sought to break the deadlock earlier this month by sending Mr Medvedev a letter of congratulations on his election as President, saying that he looked forward to meeting him at the G8 Summit of major democracies in Japan in July. But he pointedly failed to invite the President-elect to Downing Street, underlining the continuing strains over the murder of Mr Litvinenko. Hopes of a breakthrough in the Litvinenko case under President Medvedev are likely to be disappointed.

Mr Putin accused Britain of “colonial thinking” in demanding that Russia over-ride a constitutional ban on extradition to send Mr Lugovoy to London. Mr Medvedev, a former law professor, will be certain to support that position.

Mr Putin will become Prime Minister when he leaves the Kremlin, further reducing the chances of a change in relations under Mr Medvedev.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, adopted the same theme during the row over the closure of two British Council offices in January, accusing London of “nostalgia for colonial times” in its relations with Moscow.

Russia agreed to end an air blockade of neighbouring Georgia, 18 months after it was imposed in an espionage row. The Transport Ministry in Moscow announced that air services between the two countries would be restored from next Tuesday, saying that a dispute over a Georgian debt for navigation fees had been resolved. Russia severed all road, sea, rail, air and postal links to its former Soviet satellite in October 2006 after the Georgian authorities expelled four Russian military officers, accusing them of spying. The blockade was widely seen as a Kremlin attempt to put pressure on the pro-Western regime of President Saakashvili.

Times Recommends

• ‘Thousands of Tamils dying’ in Sri Lanka camp
• Jackson 'rebuilt his nose before he died'
• Tehran: militiamen attack protesters