Moscow (ANTARA News) – The British government`s cultural arm said on Thursday it had halted work in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg because staff were being interviewed by Russia`s domestic intelligence service.
The British Council has been caught up in an escalating dispute with Russia over the legality of its regional branches, part of a wider diplomatic row between London and Moscow.
The Council shut its other Russian regional office in the northern city of St Petersburg on Wednesday after Russian staff were summoned by the Federal Security Service, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB.
“The normal services usually offered by the British Council in Yekaterinburg can not be offered today because FSB interviews with staff are continuing,” a British Council spokeswoman said by telephone from London, Reuters reported.
“The staff there are not working today.”(*)