UK Defies Russian Order to Shut British Council Offices

Russia and Britain were last night locked in a standoff over the future of the British Council after Britain defied an order from the Kremlin to close down the council's regional offices.

The council's St Petersburg branch reopened yesterday following the Christmas and new year break, despite an edict from Russia's foreign ministry ordering it to cease operations from January 1.

The Kremlin reacted swiftly and angrily. It dubbed the British move a "deliberate provocation" and summoned Britain's ambassador in Moscow, Tony Brenton, to the foreign ministry for a rare public dressing down. It promised further measures against the government-funded cultural organization, and said that Britain was wholly to blame for harming relations between London and Moscow.

The rebuke is the latest incident in the continuing diplomatic row between Russia and Britain. The Kremlin ordered Britain to close its two remaining regional offices, in St Petersburg, Russia's second city, and Yekaterinburg, last month. It said they were working illegally. The Moscow head office was not affected. Britain said it would ignore the request.

Russia's foreign ministry said yesterday that the council's Moscow office could now be shut down, in effect closing down the British Council entirely.

Brenton spent five minutes at the foreign ministry, where he was given a note expressing Russia's displeasure.

Afterwards, the ambassador said that the British Council would continue to operate in Russia, despite Kremlin threats. Any attempt to close it down would be in breach of international law, he said.

Russia's foreign ministry, however, promised further "legal and administrative" measures. It would not renew the visas of British Council regional staff or give new ones. The St Petersburg office could also expect a large tax bill.

Last month, Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, explicitly linked the closures to Britain's "unfriendly" decision last July to expel four Russian diplomats from London. The expulsions were in protest at Moscow's failure to cooperate with the investigation into the murder in London of the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, and over Britain's fruitless extradition request for Andrei Lugovoi, the man suspected of killing him.

Yesterday James Kennedy, the director of the British Council in Russia, who had flown to St Petersburg from Moscow, reopened the office at 9am. There was no sign of the police or pro-Kremlin protesters.

"We are open. Nobody tried to stop us," Kennedy said. He said the council's work was "perfectly legal" and was regulated by a 1994 agreement between London and Moscow that named it as the UK's "implementing agency" for culture and education.

Asked what Russia's next move might be, he said: "All sorts of things might happen. But Lavrov has said that we should not expect tanks outside the British Council."

Officials have accused Britain of trying to "politicize" the problem by appealing for solidarity from fellow EU members.