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British-Russian spat intensifies

The diplomatic stand-off between the UK and Russia entered a dangerous new phase on Wednesday as British officials denounced "a pattern of intimidation" by Russia's security services against British Council staff.

The UK Foreign Office complained of unacceptable behavior, after Russians working at British Council offices in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg were called in for questioning by the FSB, the successor to the KGB, and visited at home by interior ministry officials. Stephen Kinnock, the head of the council's St Petersburg office, was stopped and detained for an hour for alleged drunk-driving and driving the wrong way down a one-way street.

British officials denied that Kinnock, the son of former British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock had being drinking, saying he had refused to take a breath test and called for consular assistance in line with Foreign Office guidelines.

One official said Kinnock had been followed home after dining with friends in what the official described as "a pattern of intimidation intended to disrupt the British Council."

The organization said it was deeply concerned for the safety of its employees.

The St Petersburg office was forced to close last night, after its staff were summoned for FSB questioning for the second time in 24 hours. The British Council will decide today on whether it is able to keep its regional offices open while its staff are being put under intense FSB pressure.

The organization had attempted to continue its work this week in defiance of Moscow's order to close the regional offices, on the grounds that the order was illegal under international law and incompatible with bilateral agreements. Russian officials blame Britain for the collapse of talks last year aimed at reviewing status of cultural organizations. The failure of the talks, they argue, left the British Council without a legal footing in Russia.

Russia's ambassador to London, Yuri Fedotov, was summoned to the Foreign Office to hear British complaints.

Later he said: "Now we are really experiencing what can be called a crisis," adding that he saw no immediate prospect of any improvement.

The battle over the British Council is the latest in a series of skirmishes between London and Moscow starting with the murder in November 2006 of the Russian dissident and former FSB agent, Alexander Litvinenko.

It worsened with Russia's refusal to extradite Britain's principal suspect, Andrei Lugovoi, the subsequent tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats and restrictions on visas for Russian officials.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband issued a statement yesterday saying: "Any intimidation or harassment of officials is obviously completely unacceptable. The only losers from any attack on the British Council are Russian citizens who want to use the British Council -- and the reputation of the Russian government."

Peter Ricketts, the head of the British diplomatic service, told Fedotov that any "attack" on Britain's cultural arm would damage Moscow's reputation.

Russian officials say that the British Council's Moscow offices could be targeted next if no agreement, encompassing the status of cultural organizations and the availability of British visas for Russian diplomats, was reached.

Miliband has already promised to respond, with the further expulsion of Russian diplomats now an option.
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