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Russia and Britain in Diplomatic Slug Fest
The British Foreign Office has threatened responsive measures in the event the Russian Foreign Ministry follows through on its threat to stop issuing visas to British diplomats. The Russians have stated that the British have “nostalgia for colonialism” and yesterday made spying charges against British workers in Russia again. All of this is a continuation of the conflict over the British Council offices in the Russian regions, which were ordered closed by Russian authorities. They have refused to follow that order, which came at the end of last year amidst the conflict over the extradition of Russian citizen Andrey Lugovoi to Great Britain to face charges in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko.
Russian threatened to stop issuing visas to British Council employees and other diplomats in response to the Council's response to close its doors. The British Council office in Ekaterinburg, for instance, has changed it name to the “consulate cultural department” and continues to operate. In the meantime, Interfax information agency distributed commentary yesterday by head of the Namakon analytical center and former head of the Soviet KGB's illegal intelligence activities Yury Drozdov, who accused British Council workers of being employed by British intelligence.
Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Committee of Foreign Affairs, told Kommersant that “Russia is not trying to create spy scandal 2,” referring to last year's accusations against British embassy employees that included the discovery of an artificial rock with a hidden camera in it. “We are acting within the framework of the law,” Kosachev continued, “but any responsive measures by Great Britain will a priori be beyond the ethics of state relations. Russia will react symmetrically to any responsive measures, no matter what they are. But the chain will begin not with the British Council, but with measures Great Britain decides on.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 16, 2008
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