Moscow, 27 July: Russia and the United Kingdom should not sacrifice their economic collaboration because of a foreign-policy mini-crisis, Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev told foreign journalists on Friday [27 July].

"I think that despite a number of unfortunate complications - and in our view we were not the root cause of these complications - these complications should not in any way affect economic and social collaboration between our countries. The economic ties and the total of mutual investment we now have are very substantial," Medvedev said.

In his view, "it would be silly to sacrifice this collaboration because of some minor crises and complications". He further believes that Russia and the UK have worked hard to build up this potential, so it would be "too much of a pity" if it all went wrong.

He went on to say that the United Kingdom had its own vision of how a collaborative relationship in the gas sector should be developed, which differed from Italy's and from that of some other European nations as regards it. Despite this, however, Moscow and London have managed to make some headway in this direction, Medvedev noted.

"So it would be a pity to squander this legacy because of a foreign-policy problem. The sooner it all ends, the better," he said.

He also thought that in order to overcome the complications in Russo-British relations, neither side needed to make any particularly difficult decisions.

"We should treat each other with respect and proceed on the basis of what can be properly described as the universally recognized principles of international law," Medvedev said. He also underlined the need to respect the laws of the land.

"I for one, ever since my student days, have always greatly respected what is known as Britain's unwritten constitution, including its Magna Carta," he noted.

As for the Russian constitution, Medvedev went on to say, even though it is not as old as that of Britain and can be legally flawed, it nevertheless is the Russian state's main law in force.

"So it can be quite hurtful to hear comments such as 'you have a problem, so change your constitution to be like all the other civilized nations'," Medvedev commented. Such comments will complicate mutual relations, he warned.

"We should proceed on the basis that all sides in international relations have equal rights, including the equal right to form their own national legislation, for that legislation to have precedence over any other forms of foreign-policy activity, except for international conventions, and even then subject to limits.

"As you know, if we take any constitution and international conventions, international legal acts, in themselves they do not replace that constitution, because the constitution is the main law, whatever convention has been signed. It is the will of the people. So it seems to me to be an important aspect for the crisis that has come about to be ended," Medvedev said.

He also underlined the need for a cooperative approach to mutual relations. "If one side or another requests a law enforcement agency to provide some documents, to mount some investigations and subsequently court action, it makes sense for these not to be evaded, for the sides to work together, then there will be a result," Medvedev said.