Moscow regrets that British business decided to sacrifice its considerable economic interests in Russia

MOSCOW. March 12 (Interfax) - Moscow regrets that the British business community has decided to sacrifice its economic interests in Russia, it is open for commercial and economic interaction with the British side, Russian Foreign Ministry Second European Department Director Sergei Belyayev said.

"It is regrettable that in the current difficult circumstances, the British business community ultimately decided to follow the lead of its government and sacrifice its considerable economic interests in Russia in order to accommodate the selfish ambitions of Boris Johnson's government and his overseas curators," Belyayev said in an interview with Interfax.

"In the future, domestic economic operators will certainly take into account the unscrupulousness of the partners," he said.

"At the same time, it is important to emphasize that we remain open to interaction in the commercial and economic sector to the same extent as the British side will be ready for it. However, the British side must understand that the niche freed by their departure will be filled by their competitors and it would be quite hard to make up for what they lose," Belyayev said.

"Commercial and economic ties between our countries have always been based on the interest of the business communities of Russia and the United Kingdom to increase cooperation in the sectors of mutual interest," he said.

"Thanks to such pragmatic approach, the UK well established itself as one of the five main external economic partners of our country. At the same time, representatives of large businesses have never concealed that they were forced to take various factors, including the ones which often had a negative impact on the climate in bilateral relations, into account while working in Russia," Belyayev said.