Moscow and London squared up for a fresh diplomatic row yesterday after Russia ordered the British Council to cease all operations outside Moscow and to close its two remaining regional offices, in St Petersburg and Ekaterinburg, by the end of this month.

The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the cultural organisation of operating illegally in Russia, and suggested that its ultimatum was linked to the fallout from the death of Alexander Litvinenko.

Britain dismissed the claim and said that the council would defy the order by operating normally after the new year holiday. It warned the Kremlin not to commit a “serious breach of international law” by forcing the offices to shut down.

Downing Street reacted sharply to President Putin's latest attack on British interests. Gordon Brown's spokesman said: “We are looking to the Russian Government to honour their obligations.”

Russia has repeatedly harassed the council in recent years. But it explicitly tied the latest action to the row over the extradition of Andrei Lugovoy, the man accused of murdering Mr Litvinenko, the dissident former spy.

The Foreign Ministry blamed a failure to reach agreement over the council's status on “unfriendly British actions” in expelling four diplomats in July over the Litvinenko affair. Russia expelled four diplomats in retaliation.

The British Embassy in Moscow said that the council had no involvement in politics. A spokesman said: “We strongly reject any attempt to link it to Russia's failure to co-operate with our efforts to bring the murderer of Alexander Litvinenko to justice.”

The British Council acts as the Government's cultural and educational ambassador abroad. More than 1.2million Russians are believed to have used its services and programmes last year.

Natalya Minchenko, its spokeswoman in Moscow, said: “We have no plans to shut down either in Ekaterinburg or St Petersburg as everything we do in Russia is in line with bilateral cultural agreements and with Russian legislation.”

However, the council announced quietly in October that from January 1 it was transferring nine of its 11 regional centres in Russia to local partners such as universities. It had run the centres for the past decade, providing language tuition and information about the UK.

It explained the move as part of a “global strategy” to shift resources from property to programmes, and said that it would continue to train staff and provide teaching materials for the centres. But there were suspicions that the council had buckled under pressure from the Kremlin.

Its presence had already been reduced from 15 centres since 2004, when police raided all of the council's premises and demanded that officials hand over financial records.

During the tit-for-tat expulsions in the summer, Russian television broadcast a documentary alleging that the council was a front for British espionage.

Britain said that the British Council's activities in Russia were protected by the 1963 Vienna Convention, which regulates general diplomatic relations, and a separate bilateral agreement signed in 1994. It complied fully with Russian law.

“Any action against the British Council would constitute a serious breach of international law and would deprive Russians of cultural and educational resources,” the Embassy said.

Cultural publicity in tricky setting

The British Council, founded in 1934 by Sir Reginald “Rex” Leeper, describes itself as “the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations” (Tom Whipple writes). Sir Reginald, however, happily described its work as “cultural propaganda”.

The website of the British Council in Russia says “Russia’s importance as a leading player on the world stage and its critical role in areas such as energy and climate change make it a high-priority country for the UK”, while acknowledging that “difficulties in the official relationship between Russia and the UK are mirrored by a complex operating environment for the British Council”.

Recent expansion into the Middle East at the expense of European offices has been criticised by some commentators. They include Fay Weldon, the writer, who said: “What do they hope to do? Win hearts and minds by sending in rappers to Saudi Arabia and the Middle East? We’re trying to impose our culture and values on the culture of countries that don’t share them, in the extraordinary conviction that we are right.”

Around the world

— The first British Council office was set up in Cairo in 1938. The organisation is now active in 110 countries, employs 2,000 English teachers and has a budget in 2007-08 of £193 million

— Its turnover is much higher, at about £500 million. The extra money comes from English tuition and administering UK exams

— During the Second World War offices reopened in mainland Europe even before Germany had been defeated. Offices were targeted by angry Muslims during the Danish cartoons controversy

— Under apartheid, the council was criticised for maintaining its South African offices. However, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said of its work: “It is important to try to prepare people for the post-liberation South Africa.” By the 1980s the council took 200 black South Africans a year on training courses in Britain

— Relations with the Soviet Union were often strained but after artistic contact was resumed in 1986 the council helped to organise a visit by the London Sinfonietta

— Afghanistan’s first performance of Shakespeare in 17 years was a 2005 production of Love’s Labour’s Lost, backed by the British Council. It had withdrawn all staff in 1980 after the Soviet invasion

Source: British Council

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3043046.ece