This photo of July 17, 2007 shows the students with the British Council's grants for education under the Chevening program.
Photo:
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Russia to Apply Soviet Sanctions to Britain
Russia’s Foreign Ministry is elaborating an agreement with Britain, whereby the regional affiliates of the British Council won’t reside on the soil of diplomatic missions and won’t enjoy the consular immunity. In response to another row over the educational projects, the British Council has decided to wind up its regional offices.
The issue of accommodating offices of the British Council in Russia was raised October 25, during the meeting of Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov and Britain’s Ambassador to Russia Anthony Brenton. Russia’s demand is to pull them out of the consulate territory.
The matter at stake, said Andrei Krivtsov, who is the deputy briefer at the RF Foreign Ministry, is nonconformity of addresses of the British Council’s regional affiliates to the status of nongovernmental organization. “By residing inside the diplomatic missions, the British Council falls under the action of consular immunity, which contradicts the convention on consular intercourse.”
The British Council was set up in 1934; it has affiliates in 100 countries of the world. Its purposes are to teach English, render information and library services, arrange probation trips and promote the British education. Eleven centers have been working in Russia since 1992.
Meanwhile, the British Council has officially announced that the work of its key offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg will continue as before, but it will wind up the regional programs, transferring its centers in nine regions (Ekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhni Novgorod, Omsk, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Sochi and Volgograd) to ownership of the partners and supporting them under the new partnership agreements.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 01, 2007
|
|
|
