A diplomatic row between Britain and Russia flared again today after local employees of the British Council were called in for questioning and the organisation's director in St Petersburg was held for alleged drunk driving.

Britain responded by summoning the Russian Ambassador in London, Yuri Fedotov, to lodge a protest about what David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, called the "intimidation and harassment of British officials".

The Kremlin demanded late last year that the Council, a cultural agency whose main task is to prove English language teaching, close its offices outside Moscow because of tax irregularities. Britain refused to do so, saying that the Council's operations in Russia were entirely legal and accusing the Kremlin of trying to divert attention from the murder in London of the former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko.

The Interfax news agency reported today that Stephen Kinnock, whose father, Lord Kinnock of Bedwelty, chairs the Council, was stopped by police last night in St Petersburg, where he heads the Council's regional office.

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It said that Mr Kinnock was stopped at around 11.30pm after breaking traffic rules by driving at the crossing of two streets where traffic is not allowed.

"During an ID check, a heavy smell of alcohol was noticed in Kinnock's breath. He refused a medical examination, but road police officers wrote a report and had it certified by witnesses," a source in the city's law enforcement division told the new agency.

Interax reported that Mr Kinnock was collected from the police station half an hour later by William Elliot, the British Consul-General.

Separately, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor body to the KGB, warned its citizens working for the Council against getting caught up in the row and said it would explain those risks to local employees “for their own protection”.

Council officials expressed concern today after the FSB summoned some Russian employees from the St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg offices or visited them at home.

That also prompted condemnation from Downing Street and from Mr Miliband, who told reporters outside No 10 that the Ambassador was to meet Peter Ricketts, head of the diplomatic service.

Mr Miliband said that the Foreign Office had heard "very serious reports of intimidation and harassment of British officials".

“Obviously we take that very seriously indeed," he added. "Any intimidation or harassment is completely unacceptable.”

"The only losers from any attack on the British Council are Russian citizens who want to use the British Council, one and a quarter million last year, and the reputation of the Russian Government.

"I very much hope that there is still time for the Russian Government to find a way to maintain the important cultural work that goes on between the two countries."

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