Moscow  - Former British prime minister Tony Blair came out in favour Tuesday of closer Western ties with Russia.

Speaking at an investment conference in Moscow, Blair was quoted by the RIA Novosti Agency as saying that power was shifting towards the east.

Europe and the United States would have to take the shift of economic power to Russia, China and India "very seriously," he added.

A solution to global issues such as climate change, nuclear and energy policy was not possible without Russian involvement.

Russia had changed, Blair stressed at an investment conference called "Russia is changing."

Anglo-Russia relations have been tense for months. Russia refuses to extradite to Britain former KGB operative Andrei Lugovoi, who British investigators are convinced fatally poisoned Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian security agent, with radioactive polonium 210 in London in 2006. (dpa)