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Author Topic: Russia warns of tensions with Britain  (Read 2065 times)

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Offline Chris

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Russia warns of tensions with Britain
« on: January 09, 2008, 03:13:28 PM »
MOSCOW - Russia warned Britain on Thursday that reopening two offices of a British cultural organization would inflame already tense relations between the countries.

Russia in December ordered offices of the British Council in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg to close as of Jan. 1. The offices are closed for Russia's winter holidays, but British officials say they will defy the order and resume operations on Jan. 14.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement that Russia expects the operations to be permanently closed and "any other actions would be provocative and build up bilateral tensions."

The order against the British Council comes amid high tensions stemming from the 2006 poisoning of former KGB officer and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London.

Russia has refused Britain's request to extradite the man it considers the main suspect; this summer, Britain expelled four Russian diplomats to protest Moscow's stand, and Russia in turn kicked out four British diplomats.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last month that the British Council closure order was taken as a "countermeasure" to the diplomat expulsion.

Kamynin appeared to suggest Russia could also order the council's main office in Moscow to close.

"The activity of the British Council in Moscow and Russian regions has no legal foundation," he said. "We have not raised the question of the British Council's office in Moscow thus far, and this is an act of goodwill."

The British Council is technically a non-governmental organization, but it acts as the cultural department of the British Embassy. Russia contends it acts as a for-profit organization.

Kathryn Board, head of the British Council's overseas network, said the organization complies with Russian law, a 1994 Britain-Russia agreement and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

"If there is a law we don't comply with, the Russian government has yet to point it out," she said by telephone from London.

British Council officials have been in contact with the Russian government, seeking an agreement that would allow the offices to open without incident, Board said.

"We still have a week or so to go and we very much hope this will be seen through to a proper conclusion," she said.

Russia is also angry at Britain for its refusal to extradite tycoon Boris Berezovsky and Chechen separatist envoy Akhmed Zakayev.

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