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Russia orders British Council offices in St. Petersburg,
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 12 - 12 - 2007


Russia on Wednesday ordered a British
cultural organization to suspend all of its operations
outside Moscow at the beginning of 2008, the latest move in
a long-running dispute, reported ap.
Russian officials accusedthe British Council, a
non-governmental organization that acts as the cultural
department of the British Embassy, of operating illegally
in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a
statement that British Council operations in those two
cities violated the Vienna Convention on Consular
Relations. Russian officials have long claimed the council
is a for-profit organization subject to taxation.
Natalia Minchenko, marketing director for the British
Council's main Moscow office, denied that contention and
told The Associated Press that «we have no plans to shut
down» the regional offices.
«Any action against the British Council would constitute
a serious breach of international law and would deprive
Russians of cultural and educational resources,» a
spokesman for the British Embassy said on condition of not
being named, in line with usual practice. He said the
regional offices also conformed with a Britain-Russia
cultural agreement signed in 1994.
The order comes amid tense relations between Moscow and
London.
Britain this year called for Russia to extradite Andrei
Lugovoi, whom it identifies as the main suspect in the 2006
killing in London of dissident former security agent
Alexander Litvinenko. Russia says its constitution
prohibits it from doing so.
Russia, in turn, is furious at Britain for refusing to
extradite tycoon Boris Berezovsky, a fierce Kremlin critic,
and Chechen separatist envoy Akhmed Zakayev. Both men have
been granted political asylum in Britain.
In July, Britain expelled four Russian diplomats in
protest of the refusal to extradite Lugovoi. Russia
countered by ordering four British diplomats to leave.


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