page_title: Russia–United Kingdom relations
section_title: German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact, 1939
hierarchical_section_title: Russia–United Kingdom relations / Historical background / British–Soviet relations / Second World War / German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact, 1939
caption_attribution_description: English: Field Marshal Montgomery Decorates Russian Generals at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, 12 July 1945 The Deputy Supreme Commander in Chief of the Red Army, Marshal G Zhukov is invested as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath by the Commander of the 21st Army Group, Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, watched by British Army Officers. Second from the right is Major General L O Lyne, Commander of the 7th Armoured Division. The ceremony took place at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and a Guard of Honour was formed by the 7th Armoured Division.
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: The USSR and Germany signed the Non-aggression Pact in late August 1939, which promised the Soviets control of about half of Eastern Europe, and removed the risk to Germany of a two front war. Germany invaded Poland on 1 September, and the Soviets followed sixteen days later. Many members of the Communist Party in Britain and sympathisers were outraged and quit. Those who remained strove to undermine the British war effort and campaigned for what the Party called a 'people's peace', i.e. a negotiated settlement with Hitler. Britain, along with France, declared war on Germany, but not the USSR. The British people were sympathetic to Finland in her Winter War against the USSR. The USSR furthermore supplied oil to the Germans which Hitler's Luftwaffe needed in its Blitz against Britain in 1940.
caption: Field Marshal Montgomery decorates Soviet General Georgy Zhukov at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, 12 July 1945
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