RUSSIAN-BRITISH RELATIONS: FROM COOLING TO CONFRONTATION

Abstract

The article considers the crisis of Russian-British relations, which actively manifested itself during the years of the premiership of T. May, B. Johnson, L. Truss (2016-2022), which transformed the foreign policy of the United Kingdom in the wake of the geopolitical confrontation with Russia and the strengthening of the defense and strategic cooperation with the US and EU countries within the framework of the NATO military-political bloc. After the referendum on the UK's withdrawal from the European Union in 2016, the concept of "Global Britain" finally took shape in the country's foreign policy doctrine, which assumed the expansion of its presence in different regions of the world and active participation in the European Security and Defense Policy. In connection with the clash of the positions of London and Moscow in relation to the military conflict in Ukraine, the accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation and the war in Syria, the formats of bilateral intergovernmental cooperation were curtailed, and the previously established strong trade, economic and diplomatic ties were violated. The author comes to the conclusion that the growth of confrontation between states was largely due to the fact that the UK did not perceive Russia as an equal partner seeking to take its rightful place in pan-European politics and sought to limit its role in solving modern global problems.