A thaw in Anglo-Russian relations could metamorphose into a full-blown spring as rapprochement between the two countries appears to blossom.
Snow may still be in evidence this week in Moscow but they are signs that the Kremlin's hardline attitude to Britain and West is beginning to melt in an economic climate where cooperation is imperative.
Medvedev choose an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr to embark on a charm offensive, which takes him to London later this week for the G20 Summit and his first bilateral meetings with UK prime minister Gordon Brown and US president Barack Obama.
The Russian leader said his country's long-running row with Britain was easing and pointed to wider hopes that Russia will embark on a "new start" with US president Barack Obama on nuclear disarmament and foreign policy.
Medvedev addressed the thorny issue of Anglo-Russian relations, which had hit their lowest point since the Cold War following tensions at UK-Russian oil joint venture TNK-BP and the killing of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian security agent who became a UK citizen.
He said: “British businesspeople are welcome in Russia. We believe that British businesspeople have the same rights on Russian investment market as all others.”
Medvedev’s comment was made in good faith but it presumably doesn’t apply to the founder of the investment activist firm Hermitage Capital Bill Browder, who has been barred from Russian since 2006.
A trip to Moscow by the UK’s Business Secretary's Lord Mandelson last year and a reciprocal visit in February by Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin to London had laid the groundwork for better noises between the countries.
Both countries are trying to put the emphasis on improving trade relations. Russia is Britain's 12th-largest export market and Britain is the largest investor in the country.
UK foreign minister David Miliband, who has previously adopted a tough stance on Russia, later echoed Medvedev’s sentiments. He said he was hoping for “a new beginning” based on "hard-headed engagement."
Medvedev also suggested that a resolution could be found to the spying row which saw the British Council forced to close its regional offices last year.
But the Russian president ruled out the extradition of Andrei Lugovoi, the chief suspect in the murder of Litvinenko in London in 2006. Lugovoi remains a fly in the ointment in bilateral relations by refusing to skulk in the shadows and let his infamy dissipate.
Anne Pringle, appointed recently to replace Sir Anthony Brenton as British ambassador to Russia, says that "London has already submitted sufficient evidence to extradite him to Britain."
A former KGB officer, Lugovoi has maintained a high media profile and last year secured immunity from prosecution in Russia by being elected to the Duma. Lugovi this month toyed with a candidacy for the mayoral elections in the Olympic city of Sochi before pulling out.
Medvedev’s tone and humour differs radically from his predecessor Vladimir Putin’s dark and dry delivery. He appears affable and willing to tackle awkward subject without resorting to terseness or colloquialisms.
Marr asked whether it was true he was playing a good cop to prime minister Putin’s bad cop. Medvev laughed genially and replied that he hoped they were both good cops.
Medvedev was pointedly asked whether he would consider a pardon for jailed former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khordokovsky, who is set to stand trial for a second time in Tuesday.
Khodorkovsky, the founder of oil company Yukos was arrested in October 2003 and sentenced in June 2005 to eight years on charges widely believed to have been politically motivated.
The attack on Yukos cause multibillion-dollar damage to the Russian stock market, causing the Moscow RTS index to plunge by over 20 percent and triggering massive capital flight. Yukos was stripped of its assets, broken up and sold in a series of dubious auctions, mainly to Rosneft.
Medvedev said people should wait for the results of the second trial of Khordokovsky but added "a president has only one privilege, only one power - to grant pardon on behalf of the state."
"When people make such appeals, it is my duty to consider them. That's it." he said.
A pardon or an acquittal of Khordokovsky would demonstrate a new, more liberal direction is a reality rather than mere rhetoric.
Yet most commentators and even Khordokovsky’s own followers say an acquittal is unthinkable as long as Putin remains in power.
If Russia's leaders do the unthinkable and releases Khordokovsky, markets would fly and spring might seem more like summer.
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