The trip, the first by a British Prime Minister since Tony Blair in 2005, came on the back of a relationship between London and Moscow barely better than at the height of the Cold War – largely as a result of the murder of the dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
Accompanied by 20 leading members of Britain’s business community, including BP chief executive Bob Dudley, Mr Cameron wanted to instigate a thaw in relations and to help clinch deals for British-based companies bidding for contracts in Russia.
Speaking to students at Moscow State University, Mr Cameron said: “I accept that Britain and Russia have had a difficult relationship for some time. But I want to make the case for a new approach based on co-operation.”
The Prime Minister then met Dmitry Medvedev and shared a cordial press conference with the Russian President, although at times Mr Medvedev seemed more preoccupied with attending to his lectern than listening to what Mr Cameron had to say.
Following that, Mr Cameron held a chilly meeting with Vladimir Putin, the man believed by most commentators to be the de facto leader of Russia, and who has refused to speak to a British minister for more than four years.
By the end of Mr Cameron’s visit to Moscow, the only notable achievement was that British and Russian ministers were again talking.
For its part, the Kremlin is determined to maintain its hardline stance towards the West, strengthened by the way Nato has come out on top in Libya at the expense of Russia, which has just been told by the National Transitional Council in Tripoli that Gaddafi-era defence contracts with Moscow, totalling $4 billion, will not now be honoured.
