Moscow and London squared up for a fresh diplomatic confrontation yesterday over the fate of the British Council, as relations between the two countries deteriorated.

Russia accused Britain of “deliberate provocation” in defying an order to close the regional offices of the council — the Government’s cultural and educational ambassador — in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Sir Anthony Brenton, the British Ambassador, to protest. “The Ambassador was told that the Russian side regarded such actions as deliberately provocative and aimed at inflaming tensions in Russian-British relations,” it said in a statement.

Sir Anthony said that the offices would continue to work and Britain would regard any Russian action against the council as a breach of international law.

Russia imposed a visa ban, threatened a tax inspection and gave warning that the British Council’s entire operations in Russia were at risk unless the Government backed down.

Last month the Foreign Ministry demanded the closure of both offices by January 1, saying that they were operating illegally. The council insists that it complies fully with Russian and international law.

The ministry banned visas for new British staff at both offices and said it would not renew accreditation for existing employees. “If the council continues its work in the regions, Russia reserves the right to take further steps, including against the British Council’s office in Moscow,” the ministry said, after Sir Anthony had been handed a complaint by Vladimir Titov, the Deputy Foreign Minister.

The threat to the council’s Moscow headquarters came as the ministry said that the stand-off “may have the most negative implications for Russian-British relations”.

The Ambassador told Mr Titov that the council would carry on. Sir Anthony said: “What I said to him in reply was a statement of our clear view that the British Council is working entirely legally; that it will continue therefore to work; that any Russian action against it would be in breach of international law.” The confrontation comes after the tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats in July over President Putin’s refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoy, accused of murdering the dissident former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko in London.

Culture of friendship

— The British Council was founded in 1934. Its first Russian office was opened in 1945, but the Second World War allies quickly became Cold War opponents and it was closed in 1947

— A new British Council office, attached to the British Embassy, was opened in 1967 with the remit of organising cultural, academic and scientific exchanges

— There are three British Council centres in Russia — in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg

— Almost half a million Russians take part in projects or attend exhibitions, plays and film screenings organised by the council every year

— 200,000 Russians visited an exhibition of Whistler’s paintings at the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, last year, which was jointly organised by the British Council

— The British Council in Russia operates a website visited by 300,000 Russians each year. More than 330,000 inquiries about educational courses on offer and Britain in general are answered annually

Source: British Council in Russia

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