UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought contact with the Russian side on the sidelines of the conference on Libya in Berlin, and in his brief conversation with President Vladimir Putin he sounded quite conciliatory, a high-ranking source in Moscow told.

Axar.az informs citing TASS.

"We were surprised by commentaries from Downing Street about a meeting of Johnson and Putin. To begin with, it was Johnson himself who was seeking contact with the Russian side. Secondly, his tone was closer to conciliatory, there were no harsh statements whatsoever. Thirdly, the main message of the British prime minister was a bid to improve relations with Russia," the source said.

Earlier, the office of the British prime minister circulated a statement, quoting Boris Johnson as saying during a brief contact with Putin that normalization of relations between the United Kingdom and Russia was impossible as long as Russia threatened the UK and its allies.

"The Prime Minister said there will be no normalisation of our bilateral relationship until Russia ends the destabilising activity that threatens the UK and our allies and undermines the safety of our citizens and our collective security," the statement said.