Britain hopes new Russia president will lift ties

MOSCOW, April 16 (Reuters) - Britain hopes to make a fresh start in its difficult relations with Russia after Dmitry Medvedev becomes president next month, London's ambassador to Moscow said on Wednesday.

But Anthony Brenton and other British officials said at a British investment conference in Moscow the political rows, which have involved diplomatic expulsions and angry rhetoric from both capitals, had not hurt business growth.

"As for the political difficulties themselves, we very much hope to get over, over the next few months, with the change of president here and with the will on both sides, I think, to try and get past other problems," Brenton said.

Andrew Cahn, chief executive UK Trade and Investment, said British exports to Russia were up 57 percent last year and a quarter of all companies floated on the London stock market originated from Russia.

"I had a number of high level meetings in the past few days and in none of them has there been a mention of the political relationship and we focussed entirely on the business and economic relationship," he said.

Outside the energy and legal sectors British firms lag behind counterparts from Germany, France and Italy, Cahn said, but put it down to a perception in Britain that Russia was a tough place to do business rather than the diplomatic climate.

Brenton said he didn't believe difficulties facing oil firm BP's <BP.L > Russian joint venture TNK-BP were linked to international politics, saying the company had blamed 'internal factors' for them, rather than the fact they were half British.

The Russian security service has charged a TNK-BP employee with commercial espionage and raided its offices.

"I am very clear that both we and the Russian party have been very careful to maintain a distinct distance between problems we have on the political side and the ongoing economic relationship," said Brenton, who will retire later this year.

After the November 2006 poisoning in London of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, Russia refused to extradite the man Britain named as chief suspect, triggering tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions and visa controls on top officials.

Since then, the British government's cultural wing, the British Council, has been forced to halt its activities in two Russian cities. Officials accused it of failing to comply with local laws and said they suspected it was a cover for spying.

Simon Chivers, the Russia country manager for Mace International project consultants said the economic impetus would always overcome political problems. "We see no let up in investment in hotels, shopping centres and other areas."

Privately, another delegate said the political world did touch the business world. "Honestly, it can't not affect it. There are sometimes jokes at the start of meetings. They may be jokes, but there's more behind them," said the delegate. (Editing by Philippa Fletcher)