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British Ambassador: Only Russia Loses
// Tony Brenton on the British Council
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced yesterday that the regional branches of the British Council in Russia would close. There was no symmetrical response to the Russian threat to refuse visas to consul workers. British Ambassador to Russia Anthony Brenton tells Kommersant correspondent Yulia Taratuta why London conceded.
Why did you decide to concede?
As Mr. Miliband said, we consider Russia the only victim in this story. The people of Russia. The transmission of cultural and educational techniques brought benefits to Russians, not the British. Unfortunately, the authorities decided here that there is no benefit from us, the British Council. The presence of Russian cultural attaches is beneficial to us. The massive presence of Russians is beneficial to Great Britain, it is beneficial to Russians to receive our education. That is, only you are losing.
The Russian side has accused the Council of illegally claiming diplomatic status and conducting commercial activities.
We did have a problem with our status and there were questions about our commercial activities. As a result, the British Council stopped them. It continued only cultural outreach projects. The Council suspended paid language courses two years ago. The British Council took the path of negotiations on the tax problem. We are prepared to consider any suggestion from the Russian Interior Ministry about how the British Council can continue working in Russia. But we have a model that the Council worked very well with in Russia until this week. And it works with that model in all the countries of the world. I insist that the work of the British Council was absolutely legal.
Will you also insist that the European Union bring influence to bear on Russia in the issue of the British Council?
Many of our partners in the European Union have already expressed concern over Russia's actions. The president of the European Union has supported us. The form of Russia's actions has especially caused us and our colleagues regret. The interviews in the middle of the night with the tax police and the invitations to interviews with the FSB… It is reminiscent of the actions of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, unfortunately. Our workers were definitely intimidated during those conversations. And, in my opinion, countries are not supposed to act against their own citizens. But in Russia, they acted against Russians. What happened is simply a scandal.
Did they threaten the Council employees?
They were all invited to interviews. Many of them late in the evening. The tax police and the FSB took an interest in their personal lives. Those actions cannot be regarded as anything other than intimidation. The very fact of the summons, and the place the interviews were conducted creates a threatening impression.
How do you assess the incident with Stephen Kinnock, director of the St. Petersburg branch of the British Council, who was taken into custody by the road police?
We think he committed a minor traffic infraction. That happens in Russia, and in Great Britain. But I think it is an impressive coincidence that it happened to Mr. Kinnock on the same evening as our employees were called into the FSB. Our main duty is to guarantee the safety of our workers. And since threats had been made in their direction, we were obliged to protect them.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov directly linked the events surrounding the Council to Andrey Lugovoi and Britain's unwillingness to cooperate with Russia in combating terrorism. And mainly to work with the Russian special services, to grant its employees the status of partners.
After Lugovoi was not extradited, we did freeze relations with the FSB. It was a natural reaction. But we are willing to continue ties with other agencies. All other ties in that sphere were frozen at Russia's initiative.
Does the scandal with the British Council affect other aspects of Russian-British relations?
No. We have a problem with the British Council. There is a problem with Lugovoi, there is a problem with Mr. Berezovsky. They are separate problems. We will solve them separately. In other fields, relations between our countries are very positive. Take the economy, for example. We support Russia's accession to the WTO. We are working closely with Russia on the problem of Iran. Continuing that work is beneficial not only to us, but to Russia as well. We really do have a very firm position on Lugovoi. It is painful for us. We really don't like what happened in London. And the reaction to not extraditing him is different from the reaction to the closing of the British Council and from our position on Iran. Each problem has its own weight.
You mentioned that the tension in Russian-British relations has not yet influenced economic cooperation. But there are persistent rumors in Russia about the selling of TNK-BP assets – the sale of the Russian share to one of the largest state companies, at the minimum.
I know those rumors, of course. And it is the company's business. I am interested in BP's fate, of course. But I think that it can work with the current Russian co-owners, Vekselberg and Fridman, or with large state companies, Gazprom and Rosneft. Political tension may, of curse, play a role. But, I repeat, it will be the company's decision. The government of Great Britain is willing to work with Messrs. Vekselberg and Fridman, or with Gazprom, if it is so declared. In general, we have been among the top Russian investors. Russia is very attractive economic space for us. And Russian companies use our resources. The ties between your economic world and ours are very tight.
Is it true that the daughter of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was educated in Britain?
It's true. It is Lavrov's personal business. Much of your elite – businessmen and officials or their children - live or study in Great Britain. And we welcome that. We are an open country. But why to they prevent ordinary Russians from taking advantage of the opportunities of British education that the British Council provides them with? About a million Russians took that opportunity.
Is it possible that the work of the British Council in the Russian regions will be resumed?
I very much hope that Russia will acknowledge that it has made an obvious mistake. Officially. I receive letters from the educational organizations of your country. I was in Tomsk for Christmas. The authorities set up a meeting with educational organizations. People asked me to open a British Council in their city.
Interview by Yulia Taratuta
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 18, 2008
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