综合一区欧美国产,99国产麻豆免费精品,九九精品黄色录像,亚洲激情青青草,久久亚洲熟妇熟,中文字幕av在线播放,国产一区二区卡,九九久久国产精品,久久精品视频免费

   

Russia restrict visas for British Council staff

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-14 22:42

Moscow -- Russia announced on Monday it will not issue new entry visas to staff working in the British government's cultural offices in two regions, sharpening a row that has soured already-poor relations.

Russia ordered the British Council to halt work at the two regional offices from January 1 in a move both sides have linked to a diplomatic feud over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian emigre critical of the Kremlin.

Britain has called the Russian order illegal and on Monday the two offices, in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, resumed work after the long New Year break, Reuters correspondents in both cities said.

Russia's Foreign Ministry summoned British ambassador Tony Brenton on Monday and soon after issued a statement blasting Britain for defying the order and keeping its offices open.

"Russia views such actions as an intentional provocation aimed at inflaming tensions in Russian-British relations," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on its www.mid.ru website.

"The Russian side will not issue visas to new employees sent to work in the (British) consular offices of St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg to carry out British Council work" the statement said.

The British ambassador, leaving the Foreign Ministry after his talks with officials, said the British Council would continue its operations in Russia's regions.

British officials say the Russian move against the British Council is linked to the dispute over Litvinenko's 2006 murder by radiation poisoning in London, an episode that has driven relations to their lowest level since the Cold War.

Britain named former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoy as its suspect in Litvinenko's murder, and in July Britain expelled four Russian diplomats over Moscow's refusal to extradite Lugovoy. Russia expelled four British diplomats in response.

Litvinenko Link 

The head of the British Council in Russia, James Kennedy, said Monday that Moscow had made the dispute a political one.

"We haven't made this link, that link has been made by the Russian authorities," Kennedy said when asked about a connection to the Litvinenko case.

"We, at the British Council, are a non-political organisation. We work in the field of education and culture and we regret that this has been turned into a political dispute."

Russia says it ordered the two British Council offices to halt their work because of long-standing concerns that their legal status, as separate entities from the British embassy, was not in line with Russian law.

The offices, which promote British culture abroad and arrange educational exchanges, have also been subject to tax investigations.



Top World News  
Today's Top News  
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
射洪县| 武川县| 拉孜县| 恩施市| 浮山县| 岳阳市| 汕头市| 大理市| 灵武市| 普安县| 汨罗市| 西丰县| 鄯善县| 平昌县| 乐陵市| 察哈| 龙泉市| 眉山市| 镇安县| 城固县| 司法| 永善县| 濉溪县| 日土县| 龙游县| 宁强县| 法库县| 墨脱县| 海宁市| 竹溪县| 习水县| 神木县| 张家港市| 饶阳县| 鄂托克前旗| 嘉善县| 会理县| 和田县| 邢台县| 大石桥市| 信阳市|