Arrange a meet­ing at a sum­mit. Prior to the meet­ing, ensure gov­ern­ment offi­cials drop reas­sur­ing hints about the need to improve relations:

Rus­sia now poses its biggest threat to Bri­tain since the Cold War, accord­ing to secur­ity sources. MI5 fears that Bri­tain has been swamped with spies since the break­down of rela­tions over the tit-for-tat accus­a­tions over the pois­on­ing of former KGB officer Alex­an­der Litv­inenko. [Tele­graph]

Rus­sian dip­lo­mats were … furi­ous at reports in the Brit­ish press last week which sug­ges­ted Lon­don was awash with Rus­sian spies. Moscow believes the leak came from MI5, the Brit­ish secur­ity ser­vice. [FT]

Then there’s the lead­ers’ meet­ing itself — a cock­tail of per­sonal chem­istry, national interest, and the inev­it­able prac­tic­al­it­ies. So how did it go?

Gor­don Brown’s hopes of a thaw in Britain’s rela­tion­ship with the Krem­lin received a set­back … after “sharp-edged” talks with the new Rus­sian pres­id­ent, Dmitry Med­ve­dev. [Guard­ian]

Doh! Those bloody Russians!

The murder of former Rus­sian agent Alex­an­der Litv­inenko was car­ried out with the back­ing of the Rus­sian state, White­hall sources have told the BBC.