Cameron in Moscow to rebuild trust with Kremlin

David Cameron on Monday will seek to mend ties with the Kremlin poisoned by the London murder of a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin as he becomes the first British prime minister to visit Russia since 2005.

"I look forward to good discussions on trade, foreign policy and the rule of law," Cameron said in comments released ahead of the visit.

Cameron, who arrived in the Russian capital on Sunday, will meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at noon (0800 GMT) Monday and then hold separate, 1230 GMT talks with Putin, the current prime minister who may return for another six-year stint at the Kremlin in March.

London officials said this would be the first contact a British minister or diplomat has made with his Putin, Medvedev's hawkish mentor and predecessor, since a few months after the agonising death by radioactive poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.

Britain links the killing to another retired Russian agent named Andrei Lugovoi who allegedly wanted to remove a dangerous opponent with secret knowledge concerning Putin's past.

Moscow has refused London's request to extradite the suspect -- now a member of parliament -- and accuses London of having botched the investigation while using the case to discredit Russia.

The breakdown in relations under successive Labour governments has been one of the most serious between Russia and any Western power in the past decade.

Britain has suffered most from Russia's subsequent refusal to share intelligence on counter-terror operations and basic crime fighting data.

But it has also slowed Russia's drive to innovate its economy through foreign direct investments and Moscow officials have more recently voiced a cautiously optimistic view of the rise of Cameron's Conservative Party.

"More and more people, including politicians, understand that ideological obsession must give way to pragmatism and the search for balance of interests," the Russian foreign ministry said on the eve of Cameron's visit.

Cameron, who ends his two-day official stay on Tuesday, heads a large business delegation to Moscow that includes the embattled head of the BP energy giant, which recently lost a lucrative oil deal with the Russia state oil company and was subsequently raided by bailiffs.

"The Russian economy is growing faster than the average in Europe, and offers great opportunities for British businesses," Cameron said.

British and Russia officials were set to sign several commercial and other agreements, said the British embassy in Moscow, adding the British prime minister would also speak to Russian students.

But any lobbying attempts will be accompanied by strong domestic pressure on the British prime minister to challenge Russia's rights record at the talks.

"These concerns need to be addressed before business can truly flourish," four former British foreign ministers wrote in a letter published in the Sunday Times.

The Kremlin appears resigned to the idea of Cameron bringing up Litvinenko's death and other democratic concerns. But it also stresses that it is up to Britain to move beyond these issues if it wants better ties.

"I do not expect the Litvinenko issue to dominate," said Kremlin's top foreign policy adviser Sergei Prikhodko. "We do not plan to bring this issue up. There are more important topics."

One issue likely to be on the table is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ruthless crackdown on the opposition.

Russia has close ties with Syria and Moscow's refusal to support UN sanctions against its regional ally has frustrated Western diplomatic initiatives.

A Kremlin source said only that "special attention" would be paid to the Libya and Syria crises.

Cameron's visit is the first by a British prime minister since Tony Blair visited Saint Petersburg in 2006. But that trip was for a G8 summit and not a bilateral visit to Russia.

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