Medvedev to meet Brown in Japan

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown early next month in a gesture aimed at normalising strained bilateral relations, a top Kremlin aide said yesterday.

The meeting will take at the summit of the G8 group of industrialised nations in Japan due on July 7, Mr Medvedev's chief foreign policy adviser Sergei Prikhodko told reporters.

"The President will indeed meet Brown in Hokkaido," he said. "I hope this will become a good signal to all those sincerely interested in improving Russian-British relations."

Cordial ties between Moscow and London established after Mr Medvedev's predecessor Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000 later soured as Russia accused Britain of hosting the Kremlin's political foes.

London has angered Moscow by granting political asylum to self-exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky and a Chechen rebel leader, Akhamad Zakayev.

The ties plummetted to their lowest point since the Cold War after Russia refused to extradite to Britain ex-security guard Andrei Lugovoy suspected of poisoning outspoken Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.