Issues including the Syria conflict and 2018 World Cup will be on the table in the first visit by a British foreign secretary to Russia for five years

Boris Johnson will hold talks in Moscow on Friday, in the first visit by a British foreign secretary to Russia for five years, with Syria expected to be top of the agenda when he meets his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

Neither side expects any major breakthrough in the strained bilateral relationship, which has not been repaired since the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006. Relations have been further impaired in recent years by Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and allegations of Russian meddling in the politics of western nations.

Johnson is due to arrive in Moscow on Thursday evening and will hold talks with Lavrov on Friday, before having lunch with the minister and then holding meetings with civil society activists in the afternoon.



The talks are the third time this year that Johnson has announced a visit to Moscow, but the previous two occasions he cancelled the trip at the last minute. In April, the trip was called off in the aftermath of the Khan Sheikhun chemical attack and subsequent US airstrikes against a Syrian government airbase.

May can berate Putin. But Brexit is his dream policy | Rafael Behr Read more

Johnson also irritated the Russians with a newspaper interview on the eve of his visit in which he compared the country to Sparta: “closed, nasty, militaristic and antidemocratic”.

However, Johnson wants to engage Russia on a host of international problems for which cooperation or at least coordination with Moscow are key, including issues involving Syria, Iran and North Korea.



The foreign secretary is hoping to probe Russia regarding its plans for a Syrian national dialogue congress in Sochi in February, the conference’s relationship with the UN process, and the Russian view of the end game in Syria. After declaring their military intervention in Syriaa victory earlier this month, the Russians are keen to play the leading role in defining the peace, while western nations want to make sure Russia’s efforts do not undermine the UN process.

Johnson’s objectives are likely to include probing the possibility of leveraging Russia away from Iran over the future of Syria. Iran is determined to maintain a militia force within Syria, but needs the support of Damascus – and Russia – to do so.

On the broader issue of Russia’s efforts to use hybrid warfare to spread “ambiguity and doubt” inside western democracies, Johnson does not plan to back down from prime minister Theresa May’s recent warning to Russia to stop weaponising information. Such discussions are likely to be met with a frosty response, as Russia has denied all allegations of hacking, cyber armies or other forms of meddling.



May raised the stakes with Moscow last month, when she claimed in a set piece foreign policy speech that “the UK knew what Russia was doing”, and accused Moscow of “deploying its state-run media organisations to plant fake stories and photoshopped images in an attempt to sow discord in the west and undermine our institutions”.



Russian officials have mocked the paucity of the public evidence provided over the allegations that Russian interventions on social media had an effect on the outcome of the EU referendum in Britain.



Also on the agenda for Johnson’s visit is the issue of cooperation ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, including consular issues for travelling England fans and security issues. England will play their group games in three provincial Russian cities: Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod and Kaliningrad.

Earlier this month David Cameron, the former prime minister, accused Russia of winning the right to host the tournament by using bribery. However, there is already coordination ahead of the tournament, with Russian police travelling to recent Champions League games in England to observe British policing tactics. The two sides are also expected to discuss cooperation regarding combatting threats to the World Cup tournament.

The Russians have welcomed Johnson’s visit but remain wary of the foreign secretary following the cancellation of his two prior scheduled trips, and have warned they will not allow London to cherrypick the topics of discussion.



“Picking and choosing dialogue on issues of interest for Britain, as British officials have been saying in their public statements, is inadequate ... and of little added value to us,” said Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry. Zakharova said the visit would be pointless if it was not accompanied by “real steps” aimed at improving bilateral relations.