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David Cameron urged to challenge Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev

BBC News

David Cameron has been urged by four former foreign secretaries to challenge the Russian government on a number of issues during his visit to Moscow.

They want President Dmitry Medvedev to be confronted over a perceived failure to protect business against corruption.

In a Sunday Times letter, they also call for the PM to raise the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006. The call is from Labour’s Margaret Beckett, David Miliband, Jack Straw and Conservative Sir Malcolm Rifkind.

The letter says hundreds of thousands of Russian businessmen are detained in jails after falling victim to corruption sanctioned by the authorities. They refer to these people as “victims of an increasingly potent mix of corruption and lawlessness”.

In their letter, the former foreign secretaries state: “The dangers of this corruption do not stop at Russia’s borders and Alexander Litvinenko’s murder shows the consequences of such lawlessness hitting British shores.