Miliband to visit Russia next week

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Relations between London and Moscow have been severely strained since the killing of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.

The Foreign Office admits it still does not always "see eye to eye" with the Kremlin, but also stresses that Russia is a global power and an important trading partner for Britain.

The last foreign secretary to visit the country was Jack Straw in 2004, although Mr Miliband has held regular talks elsewhere with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown also speaks frequently with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev at international summits. Nevertheless, MPs described the visit as a "critical turning point" in relations between the two countries.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "Russia matters greatly to finding ways to address the major global challenges which we face." She added that reaching out to Russia's young people would be a "key part" of Mr Miliband's visit.

"Of course we do not always see eye to eye with Russia. Where we disagree we state our positions frankly," she said. "We want a stable, long term relationship with Russia. The Foreign Secretary is going to Russia to take that agenda forward."

Relations between Britain and Russia took a turn for the worse after Mr Litvinenko was poisoned in London and Moscow subsequently refused to extradite chief suspect Andrei Lugovoi. Tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions followed.

There has also been a long-running row over the Russian offices of the British Council, which has been forced to close all but one of its offices there over a tax dispute.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Miliband was optimistic about the scope for productive talks about international issues. "I think we're going to have substantive discussion," he said. "We're going to talk substantively about Afghanistan, substantively about Iran, substantively about the Middle East."