Russia avers bilateral ties with UK could get worse under leadership of Liz Truss

Moscow sees no "prerequisites for positive changes" in bilateral ties between Russia and UK with Liz Truss being elected to the post of Prime Minister, said Sergey Belyaev, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's second European department. Speaking to Sputnik, he said Russia has "no illusions" regarding the matter. His remarks come as Liz Truss has been declared the winner of the Conservative leadership election and will succeed Boris Johnson as UK Prime Minister. 

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that there was little hope of anything positive from the new UK prime minister. "I don't think we can hope for anything positive," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters as per UK Independent.

Russia never started a "cold snap" in talks with Britain

Sergey Belyaev underscored that Liz Truss and former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak have "repeatedly" said that they "intend to continue the destructive course of Boris Johnson" in Britain's ties with Russia. Asserting that it's "important" to understand that the outgoing UK PM will continue to work like "predecessors in destroying the foundations of Russian-British cooperation," he noted that Russia never started a "cold snap" in talks with Britain.

Furthermore, Belyaev emphasised that Russia continued to urge the UK to not take actions that affect the ties between London and Moscow after "provocation" and "unfounded accusations and unilateral sanctions" initiated by Britain. Notably, the UK has been imposing sanctions against Russia ever since Moscow launched an offensive in Ukraine. As Foreign Secretary in the outgoing UK PM's cabinet, Liz Truss maintained a tough stance against Russia amid the ongoing war with Ukraine. She called for imposing tough sanctions against Russia and providing support to Ukraine. 

Liz Truss to succeed Boris Johnson as UK PM

Liz Truss has been declared the winner of the Conservative Party election and will succeed Boris Johnson as the UK's Prime Minister. Truss defeated her rival Rishi Sunak by more than 20,000 votes as she received 81,326 votes while Rishi Sunak secured 60,399 votes. After being announced as the Conservative Leader, Truss expressed gratitude to the party and outgoing UK PM Boris Johnson. She also paid tribute to her fellow contender Rishi Sunak in her address. 

Notably, Truss will become the third female Prime Minister of Britain after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May. Queen Elizabeth II will appoint Liz Truss as UK's PM at Balmoral estate in Scotland on Tuesday, September. After being announced as the Conservative Leader, Liz Truss expressed gratitude to leaders of the Conservative Party for electing her as their leader. She called it an "honour" to be elected as the leader of the Conservative party. Liz Truss committed to take "bold action" to "grow" Britain's economy and "unleash the United Kingdom’s potential."

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