The Mail on Sunday said the U.K. government is getting ready to expel over 30 Russian diplomats who are suspected intelligence agents, and the Guardian wrote that the U.K. is holding talks with the EU and the U.S. on additional measures against Russia, including blocking a new Russia-EU partnership agreement.
A Foreign Office spokesman told RIA Novosti Foreign Secretary David Miliband clearly indicated no retaliatory measures against Russia would be taken.
The St. Petersburg office suspended work on Wednesday, and the Yekaterinburg office in the Urals closed temporarily Thursday following Russian accusations of legal status irregularities and tax arrears and amid growing tensions between the two countries. The Moscow office of the U.K.'s cultural arm is continuing to operate.
The Russian Foreign Ministry earlier insisted that the offices stop operating from January 1, but the British Council failed to comply with the demand.
The Council's chief executive, Martin Davidson, said Thursday that 10 employees at the St. Petersburg office had received late-night visits from Russian tax police, and that all 20 staff members had been interviewed by Russian security officials.
The Russian embassy in London has no more than 45 Russian diplomats working there.
British Ambassador in Moscow Tony Brenton and U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband insist the Council's operations in Russia are absolutely legitimate.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said Friday Britain's attempts to politicize the situation surrounding British Council would only serve to harm bilateral relations, and spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said London's decision to suspend the Council's regional offices had been long overdue.
"The decision to suspend the British Council's offices in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg is what the British side should have done long ago," he said.
