Moscow: Russia's foreign ministry said today it would temporarily close regional offices of the British Council cultural organisation, marking a further deterioration in bilateral relations. Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown led a chorus of criticism of the move, saying the body was "fully entitled" to continue its work promoting the English language and wider British culture in Russia.

A spokeswoman for the British Council insisted both of the organisation s regional offices would continue working beyond a January one deadline. Russia's foreign ministry said that the British Council had been informed that the work of the regional branches would be suspended.
A statement from the ministry cited "the absence of a legal basis regulating the activities of the British Council in the Russian Federation."

The ban was to apply to all the British Council s branches, bar its Moscow headquarters, from January one until the body s legal status is regulated, the statement said.
Brown rejected the Russian statement and called on the British Council to continue its work.

"We, the Council and its Russian partner organisations have every intention that its programme will continue," the British prime minister said in comments relayed by spokesman Michael Ellam. In Moscow a spokeswoman for the British Council, Natalya Minchenko, told AFP that the organisation had "no plans to shut down either in Yekaterinburg or Saint Petersburg as everything we do in Russia is in line with bilateral cultural agreements and with Russian legislation."

Source : PTI