The British Council offices in Russian cities outside Moscow were set up illegally, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that all regional offices of the British Council in Russia will be closed from Jan.1, 2008.
This step has nothing to do with politics and is only linked to the legal status of the British Council, Lavrov said in an interview with the BBC on Thursday.
"The British Council was opened in Moscow on the basis of the mid-1990 agreement," he said.
"The British embassy later opened, without notifying the Russian side, Council offices in 15 places all over the country. British Council offices were being illegally set up outside Moscow and, therefore, we were compelled to put an end to this," he added.
Britain's Foreign Office, however, said in a statement obtained Wednesday by the Interfax news agency that the British Council has the right to work in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and other cities.
Source: Xinhua
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