British businesses keep all channels open for broader ties with Russia - Russian ambassador
MOSCOW. Feb 10 (Interfax) - The British business community is concerned about the current rifts in relations with Russia and wants to amend the situation, said Russian Ambassador to Britain Alexander Yakovenko.
"Local businessmen are seriously concerned by a vivid downward trend in bilateral trade as an apparent consequence of the policy of sanctions and unofficial bans practiced here in Britain," Yakovenko said on Rossiya 24 television on Tuesday.
"However, business people have been trying to do something to improve the situation and many of them confessed to me in private exchanges that they want to wait out this time of troubles, keep all the channels open and ties unbroken," the Russian ambassador said.
Major British companies which disagree with the political course and do the explanatory work in parliament are playing a special role, he said.
"Concerning major companies, including energy companies, they have been saying unambiguously to me in private and official exchanges that they remain interested in broader mutually advantageous relations between our two countries and that their businesses in Russia is something they take seriously and that will last a long time," Yakovenko said.
"These major companies are doing enormous explanatory work in parliament, which has not always been successful, though," he said.