British FS to make first Moscow visit

LONDON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- David Miliband is set to become the first British foreign secretary to visit Moscow since 2004, a Foreign Ministry official said Friday.

The unidentified ministry official said Miliband's Nov. 2 visit to the Russian capital would be the first by a British foreign secretary since Jack Straw traveled to Moscow more than five years ago, The (London) Times reported.

The British Foreign Office in London would not confirm the reported visit by Miliband.

"We are not in a position to make a formal announcement. We are in close touch with the Russian government and have always made it clear that the foreign secretary expects to visit Moscow at the appropriate time," an unidentified Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

The reported visit by Miliband comes amid tensions between Russia and Britain regarding the 2006 killing of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London.

After Russia refused to extradite Andrei Lugovoy, a key suspect in Litvinenko's death, to Britain, Miliband responded by expelling four Russian diplomats from London.

The Times said Miliband has also been an outspoken critic of Russia's treatment of British Council staff and its military actions in the breakaway Georgia region of South Ossetia in 2008.