Relations between Britain and Russia remained in the deep freeze last night after Gordon Brown appeared to have made little headway in his first meeting with President Medvedev.

At an hour-long meeting, the Prime Minister protested at the treatment by the Russian authorities of BP, the closure of British Council posts and the refusal to extradite the suspected murderer of the dissident former spy Alexander Litvinenko.

Although there was no stand-up row between the two, neither claimed any breakthrough in relations. At least half of the meeting was taken up with Mr Brown’s complaints.

A senior Russian official said that “we didn’t avoid the sharp corners”. Mr Brown described the meeting as “constructive and workmanlike” – diplomatic speak for a cool encounter.

There was a blunt refusal to accept Britain’s call for the extradition of Andrei Lugovoy, Mr Litvinenko suspected killer, or for an easing of Russia’s stance over the British Council. Mr Brown insisted that the council’s work was cultural and should not have been embroiled in a diplomatic row.

Mr Medvedev insisted that the difficulties of BP staff getting Russian visas was a bureaucratic matter that would be dealt with in the normal way.

British officials were reluctant to inflame the situation, insisting that there were useful discussions on other G8 issues. Mr Brown does not want to aggravate relations at a time when he needs Russia’s support on issues such as Zimbabwe and rising oil prices.

A Kremlin official said discussions had been frank. “We put the focus on the possibility of reestablishing the high level of our bilateral agenda as we had seen it some years before. Obviously we have talked of the British Council, of the BP issue, and about other sharp things . . . My view is that we have a certain prospect for positive progress in UK-Russian relations.”

Relations deteriorated to their lowest point since the Cold War after Russia refused to extradite Mr Lugovoy. Within months the British Council, which Russian officials accused of pursuing illegal operations, ran into tax problems. A row also broke out this summer over TNK-BP.

“I raised all the difficult issues that have caused difficult relations between our two countries and caused us to question policies that have been pursued,” Mr Brown said.

Mr Medvedev also held his first face-to-face talks with President Bush. Although the US and Russia have clashed over US plans for a missile defence system in Eastern Europe and the expansion of Nato, Mr Bush has been careful to avoid the Cold War rhetoric that has begun to characterise Moscow’s relations with Britain.

Mr Medvedev promised to build on the relationship with the US established by his predecessor, Vladimir Putin. Mr Bush has heaped praise on Mr Putin and his efforts to resolve the impasse over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Aides said that there had been no real progress on the missile defence issue, but Mr Bush said talks on Iran had been good. “While there are some areas of disagreement I know there are other areas where we can work together.” Mr Bush said that Mr Medvedev had been very comfortable at the meeting: “I believe that when he tells me something, he means it.”

The US and Russia, together with the EU and China, have been working to persuade Iran to give up uranium enrichment. Iran is being offered economic incentives to suspend work that might help it to build an atomic bomb and Russia has promised to reprocess any material produced by a nuclear energy programme.

Mr Medvedev addressed Mr Bush yesterday as “George” and agreed that Iran was an issue on which he hoped for more cooperation with the US.

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