The diplomatic stand-off between the United Kingdom 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 behaviour, 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 drink-driving and driving the wrong way down a one-way street. British officials denied 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 organisation said it was deeply concerned for the safety of its employees.
The St Petersburg office was forced to close on Wednesday night, after its staff were summoned for FSB questioning for the second time in 24 hours.
The organisation 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 the status of cultural organisations. 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. — Â