Yuri Fokin: UK action in Iraq "unacceptable"

Yuri Fokin was recalled to Moscow eight days ago for "urgent consultations" in protest at US-UK air strikes on Iraq.

Speaking to BBC News as he returned to London, Mr Fokin said: "Bilaterally, actually there was not much damage that has been done.

"But the method of handling Iraq definitely could not be accepted by us."

Yuri Fokin: "No more air strikes"

The Russian Itar-Tass news agency reported that his return came as a result of "emergency consultations with the highest authorities in Russia over Iraq".

But it is widely accepted that Russia is keen to avoid any protracted diplomatic incidents at a time when the country is in economic crisis.

A spokesman for the UK Foreign Office said that relations with Russia were expected to "normalise" with the ambassador's return.

"We have been expecting the ambassador to return and normal relations will be resumed," the spokesman said.

Mr Fokin's recall, which coincided with the return to Moscow of the Russian ambassador to the United States, Yuli Vorontsov, echoed diplomatic stand-offs of the Cold War era.

Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov has warned that the strikes against Iraq, which ended on 19 December, could cause a new chill in relations between East and West.