Britain warns West and 'isolated' Russia face new relationship
London — Britain warned Tuesday that the West and Russia faced a changed relationship in the coming years, as London suspended all bilateral military cooperation and halted arms exports to Russia.
Foreign Secretary William Hague said President Vladimir Putin had chosen the "route of isolation" by signing a treaty annexing Crimea just two days after a hastily arranged referendum on the breakaway peninsula.
"We should be ready to contemplate a new state of relations between Russia and the West in the coming years that is different from the last 20 years," Hague told parliament.
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British Foreign Secretary William Hague leaves after attending a Foreign Affairs ministers meeting on Ukraine, on March 5, 2014 in Paris (AFP/File, Kenzo Tribouillard)
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"This is a relationship that would be one in which institutions such as G8 are working without Russia, and military cooperation and defence exports are permanently curtailed, in which decisions are accelerated to reduce European dependence on Russian energy exports."
Hague said Britain was scaling back military ties with Russia, only recently revived after relations between the two countries were plunged into deep freeze by the murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
"We have suspended all such (military) cooperation," Hague said, listing a technical military cooperation agreement and joint naval exercises with Russia, France, Britain and the United States as some of the activities put on hold.
Britain was also suspending all existing licences for the export of arms to Russia, because it fears the equipment could be used by Russian forces against Ukraine.
Hague said Britain encouraged other EU states to take similar action.
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