At an FPC retreat held at Ditchley Park on 11-13 February 2005, leading figures in the UK and Russian parliaments exchanged views on recent challenges to democracy and the rule of law in Russia, current economic trends and opportunities, and convergence and divergence between Russia and the West.

The conference was organised by the Foreign Policy Centre in collaboration with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Russia and the Russia Foundation, with the aim of creating better and longer-lasting links between the two parliaments, and attempting to combat common Russian-British issues.

Participants included politicians from across the political spectrum, as well as leading experts on Russia including Professor Archie Brown of Oxford University, Lilia Fedorovna Shevtsova, Senior Associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Jonathan Steele, of the Guardian. A report of the discussions held at the retreat will be available shortly.

The Foreign Policy Centre launched its Russia programme in November 2004, with the aim, to revitalise the question of Russian Democratic Governance as one of the major European issues of today. Furthermore, the programme aims to increase understanding between Russia and Britain on the various shared issues that both countries currently face.

Download the report (170 kilobyte PDF)