page_title: Russia–United Kingdom relations
hierarchical_section_title: Russia–United Kingdom relations
caption_attribution_description: English: Vladimir Putin and Boris Johnson at the International conference on Libya, 19 January 2020.
context_page_description: Russia–United Kingdom relations, also Anglo-Russian relations, involve the bilateral relationship between the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom. Formal ties between the courts started in 1553. Russia and Britain became allies against Napoleon in the early-19th century. They were enemies in the Crimean War of the 1850s, and rivals in the Great Game for control of central Asia in the latter half of the 19th century. They allied again in World Wars I and II, although the Russian Revolution of 1917 strained relations. The two countries were at sword's point during the Cold War. Russia's big business tycoons developed strong ties with London financial institutions in the 1990s after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The countries share a history of intense espionage activity against each other, with the Soviet Union succeeding in penetration of top echelons of the British intelligence and security establishment in the 1930s–1950s. Since the 19th century, England has been a popular destination for Russian political exiles, refugees, and wealthy fugitives from the Russian-speaking world.
context_section_description: Russia–United Kingdom relations, also Anglo-Russian relations, involve the bilateral relationship between the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom. Formal ties between the courts started in 1553. Russia and Britain became allies against Napoleon in the early-19th century. They were enemies in the Crimean War of the 1850s, and rivals in the Great Game for control of central Asia in the latter half of the 19th century. They allied again in World Wars I and II, although the Russian Revolution of 1917 strained relations. The two countries were at sword's point during the Cold War (1947–1989). Russia's big business tycoons developed strong ties with London financial institutions in the 1990s after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The countries share a history of intense espionage activity against each other, with the Soviet Union succeeding in penetration of top echelons of the British intelligence and security establishment in the 1930s–1950s. Since the 19th century, England has been a popular destination for Russian political exiles, refugees, and wealthy fugitives from the Russian-speaking world.
  In the early-21st century, especially following the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, relations became strained, and since 2014 have grown unfriendly due to the Ukrainian crisis (2013–) and to activities by Russia such as the suspected 2018 poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, seen as hostile by the UK and by many in the Western world. In the wake of the poisoning, 28 countries expelled suspected Russian spies acting as diplomats.
caption: U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Libya Conference, January 2020.
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