Russia's Putin and Britain's May agree to meet to try to mend frosty ties

Both leaders are due to attend a G20 summit in China early next month, giving them an opportunity to meet for the first time since May became prime minister.

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke by phone on Tuesday and agreed to meet "in the near future" to try to improve poor relations between Moscow and London, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Both leaders are due to attend a G20 summit in China early next month, giving them an opportunity to meet for the first time since May became prime minister.

Relations between Russia and Britain are strained by differences over Ukraine and Syria as well as by what London says is a sharp increase in flights by long-range Russian bombers near British air space.

The Kremlin said Putin and May had agreed to try to work to ensure that the two countries` intelligence services communicated with one another properly and to improve air safety, a reference to Russian military flights.

Both leaders had expressed dissatisfaction about the current state of Russian-British relations, the Kremlin said.

It said the phone call had taken place at Britain`s initiative.

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