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The Foreign Secretary accused the Kremlin of "Cold War" tactics by intimidating British Council staff with late-night visits and forcing the closure of two offices today.

Minutes after Martin Davidson, the British Council chief executive, announced that the organisation was suspending operations in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg for the safety of his staff, David Miliband made his most severe condemnation of the Kremlin so far, accusing it of resorting to "reprehensible" behaviour which was "not worthy of a great country".

In a solemn statement to the House Commons, Mr Miliband said Russia's actions in sending agents to question ten staff late at night, and summoning a further 20 to be questioned by the FSB, were "similar" to those shown by the Communist Soviet Union during the Cold War.

"I am confident that the whole House will share the Government’s anger and dismay at the actions of the Russian government," he said. "We saw similar actions during the Cold War, but thought they had been put behind us."

In his most strongly-worded comments since the start of the fallout between the two countries triggered by the London murder of the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, Mr Miliband said questions posed to staff by agents largely had nothing to do with their work at the British Council and ranged from “personal questions about health to the welfare of family pets”.

“These Russian citizens have chosen to offer their skills and hard work to promote cultural contact between the people of Russia and the UK. As a result, they have been the subject of blatant intimidation from their own government,” he said.

The Foreign Secretary confirmed that Britain would not be taking reciprocal steps to penalise Russian cultural activities in London, claiming that the UK had "nothing to fear" from such activities.

The suspension of operations in the two cities, which leaves the British Council's only functioning Russian office in Moscow, is an experience Mr Miliband said the cultural arm of the UK state had not faced in any other country in which it operates in the world.

Earlier, Mr Davidson had detailed the intimidation faced by British Council employees, including the son of the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, who directs the St Petersburg office.

"The Russian authorities have made it impossible for us to continue our work in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg and I have therefore decided we will suspend our operations in both cities," he said.

"On Tuesday, the Russian state security services summoned over 20 of my Russian colleagues for interviews and late that night they visited a further ten of my colleagues at home and summoned them for interview yesterday.

"Those interviews had little or nothing to do with the work of the British Council and were clearly intended to place undue pressure on innocent individuals.

"Our paramount concern is for the safety and well-being of our staff."

James Kennedy, the director of the British Council in Russia, told The Times that FSB officers had accused the staff of working for an illegal organisation. "They were telling them that they are being used as agents of provocation by a foreign power," he said.

At the same time, during a day of diplomatic fallout yesterday, the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock's son, who directs the St Petersburg office, was held by police for an hour after his car was followed. Stephen Kinnock was only released after the arrival of the British Consul-General.

The latest escalation was triggered when Russia accused the British Council of tax offences, a move viewed as part of a wider diplomatic fallout following the murder of the dissident Alexander Litvinenko.

Mr Miliband said today: "Russia has ... failed to substantiate its claims as to why the British Council has failed to pay its tax." He added that its latest moves were a "stain" on Russia's worldwide reputation and that the European Union was drafting a similar statement of condemnation.

William Hague, the Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary, backed Mr Miliband's position, telling the Commons that Russia’s "Soviet-era" behaviour was “deeply offensive”.

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