Negotiations have been taking place in Switzerland between Victor Zubkov, head of the Russian Financial Intelligence Unit, and the British officials. Mr Zubkov has also been in similar discussions with Swiss officials. The Swiss Ambassador in Russia, Walter Tetcherin, said his country was ready to co-operate with Russia in the fight against money-laundering and financing of terrorism.

Swiss/Russian co-operation has been limited in the past, most notoriously in the Borodin affair. In 2001, Pavel Borodin, a close ally of Boris Yeltsin, the former Russian president, was arrested on a international warrant issued by Swiss prosecutors when he arrived in the US on a private invitation to attend the inauguration of President Bush. He was alleged to have received $25m from Mabetex and Mercata, two construction firms, in exchange for granting them contracts to renovate the Kremlin's Great Palace, the State Audit Chamber and other property under his management.

Swiss prosecutors said they believed that the Russian government had no wish to let Mr Borodin testify, and eventually let him go on bail of SFr5m (paid by the Russian government) after he refused to answer any questions. "It would be in his interest to explain himself but it would probably embarrass Russia's political and judicial establishment if he did," said a prosecutor.