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Russia brands British Council's defiance of ban 'provocation'- 2

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Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that the British Council's decision to keep two of its regional offices open in defiance of a closure order was an act of provocation.
(Adds Lavrov comment, visa threat, U.K. reaction in paras 5, 10-15, background in paras 18-19)

MOSCOW, January 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that the British Council's decision to keep two of its regional offices open in defiance of a closure order was an act of provocation.

British Ambassador Tony Brenton was earlier summoned to the Foreign Ministry over the decision by the British Embassy's cultural arm to keep open its offices in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg and in St. Petersburg.

"The [British] ambassador was told that Russia considers such actions to be a deliberate provocation aimed at increasing tensions in Russian-British relations," the ministry said in a statement.

Russian authorities had ordered the British Council to suspend its regional operations as of January 1, 2008 over tax and legal status violations.

Brenton argued that British Council operations were legitimate and warned that Russia's actions would be "a breach of international law."

A British Council official in Moscow also reiterated the stance: "British Council activities in Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg and Moscow fully comply with Russian and international laws, and that is why we see no reason why we should abstain from continuing operations."

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement that the Council's regional offices violated the 1963 Vienna convention on consulate relations.

A British Embassy spokesperson said earlier that London would continue discussing the situation with Russian authorities in an attempt to find a solution that would allow the British Council to resume its activities as soon as possible.

Konstantin Kosachyov, who heads the international affairs committee in the lower house of Russia's parliament, reiterated on Monday Russia's claims that actions taken against the British Council lacked political motivation, and were of a legal and financial nature.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on December 14, "We planned to give legal status to the British Council's activities on the basis of a new agreement. But in the summer, Britain began making systematic moves to worsen relations with Russia."

"Such things should not be tolerated in diplomacy," Lavrov said, adding that Russia had decided to suspend work on the British Council's status in response to its policies.

Latest reports, however, quote Kamynin as saying that Russia was not linking the British Council problem with other aspects of its relations with the United Kingdom, adding that "We believe London is fully to blame [for the current dispute].

The Russian Foreign Ministry also said Russia would refuse visas to "new employees sent to work in the [British] consular offices of St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg to carry out British Council work."

"Since our calls have not been heard, the Russian side has been forced to take a number of administrative and legal measures in line with Russian law and world practice," the ministry said.

The British Foreign Office has promised to make a statement in response as soon as it obtains official confirmation of Russia's stance on the issue.

The British Council, a non-profit organization that promotes education and cultural programs, first established an office in Moscow in the 1990s and went on to open a further 14 offices across Russia.

The organization has been involved in three years of legal wrangling with Russian authorities over the alleged non-payment of tax and issues relating to its legal status.

Many political observers believe the current dispute is inextricably connected with the extradition row over Andrei Lugovoi, Britain's main suspect in the murder of ex-Russian security service member Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.

Britain insists that Andrei Lugovoi, a former Kremlin bodyguard, poisoned Litvinenko, and has demanded his extradition. Russia has refused, however, citing its Constitution. The row led to tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions in July 2006, with President Putin saying that, "Britain forgets it is no longer a colonial power and that Russia was never its colony."

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