Theresa May and Vladimir Putin to meet at this week's G20 summit in Japan, says Kremlin

Meeting could signal thaw in relations wwith Russia, which have been in the deep freeze since last year's chemical weapon attack in Salisbury

Theresa May is to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at this week’s G20 summit in Japan, the Kremlin has announced.

A spokesman for Mr Putin told reporters in Moscow that the pair would discuss “sensitive questions” around the British-Russian relationship, which has been in the deep freeze since the chemical attack in Salisbury last year.

The spokesman signaled Russian willingness to explore the possibility for a thaw in relations, saying that Moscow would welcome any opportunity to “establish new co-operation”.

There was no immediate confirmation of the planned meeting from Downing Street.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told a media briefing in the Russian capital: “The leaders will talk over sensitive questions. As you know there are many of them.

“If any kind of opportunity can be found in our relations with Britain to establish new co-operation, then we will only welcome that.”

Ms May is making her last scheduled appearance at a major international summit when she represents the UK at the G20 gathering of major economic powers in Osaka on Friday and Saturday.

Police outside Sergei Skripal's house in Salisbury (Getty)

She last spoke with the Russian president when he approached her on the margins of the last G20 leaders’ summit in Argentina last November.

UK-Russian relations sank to a post-Cold War low following the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with nerve agent novichok in Salisbury in March 2018.

Britain said it was “overwhelmingly likely” that the attack was ordered directly by Mr Putin – something the Russian president has denied.

Countries around the world expelled a total of more than 150 Russian diplomats in solidarity with the UK.

Mr Putin said earlier this month that he hoped Ms May's successor as PM would forget the Salisbury affair.

“When all’s said and done we need to turn this page connected with spies and assassination attempts,” the Russian president said at an economic forum in St Petersburg.

"He’s your agent not ours. That means you spied against us and it’s hard for me to say what happened with him subsequently. We need to forget about all this in the final analysis."