British Council shuts Russia offices, staff summoned
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The British government's cultural arm, caught in a political row between London and Moscow, said on Thursday its Russian regional offices had halted work because local staff were being interviewed by Russia's security service.
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The head of the British Council's Saint Petersburg office left the city Saturday for as long as the bureau's operations remain suspended, British officials said as quoted by the Interfax news agency.
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Russia summoned the British ambassador and imposed sanctions Monday after the British Council defied a government ban to close two offices, heightening diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
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LONDON/MOSCOW  - Russian moves to shut down offices of Britain's overseas cultural organization are "reprehensible, not worthy of a great country", British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Thursday.
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Britain is to expel four Russian diplomats in protest over Moscow's refusal to extradite a key suspect in the poisoning of a former KGB agent.
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Russia accused Britain of politicizing the case of murdered Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko on Friday and said the affair was hurting the two countries' relations.
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Russia's foreign minister charged Friday that Britain had been deliberately worsening relations between the two countries, prompting Moscow to shut the regional offices of a major British non-governmental organization.
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MOSCOW -- Russia said yesterday that it would expel four British diplomats and suspend counterterrorism cooperation with London in the latest step in a confrontation linked to the radiation-poisoning death of a former KGB agent turned Kremlin critic.
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Russian foreign ministry to expel four British diplomats in the latest round of the ongoing diplomatic dispute with the UK.
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Russia tells the British Council to suspend the work of its two offices outside Moscow by the start of 2008.
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Britain's envoy to Russia warned Saturday that plans to shut British cultural offices could hamper EU-Russia ties, but said London would not block talks on a new bilateral pact because of the dispute.
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Britain said on Monday it was expelling  four Russian diplomats over Moscow&#39;s refusal to extradite the  main suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko.
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Russia demanded that Britain halt a planned broadcast by Channel 4 television of an interview with Chechen rebel commander Shamil Basayev, who claimed responsibility for the Beslan hostage taking that killed more than 340 people.
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Russia's culture agency said Thursday it had called off a landmark exhibition of Russian art in London because Britain had failed to guarantee the paintings' return.
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British Council offices will defy a Russian order for them to close, the UK embassy says.
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Talks on re-opening British Council offices cannot start until visa and terror rows are settled, says Russia's UK ambassador.
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Reacting to unspecified threats, Britain on Monday closed its embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, and the United States reduced its embassy's operations in the central Asian nation.