Russia Orders British Council Out Of Urals Office

(RFE/RL) June 14, 2007 -- The Russian Foreign Ministry is demanding that the British Council vacate the premises of the British Consulate in Yekaterinburg.

A Russian Foreign Ministry official in Yekaterinburg said Moscow does not recognize British Council missions in Russian cities as cultural departments of the British Embassy -- and therefore they should not be located in consulates.

The demand came amid heightened tensions between Russia and Britain over several issues, including the poisoning death in London of former Russian security official Aleksandr Litvinenko.

(Interfax, AFP)

Russia And The EU

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) with EU foreign policy representative Javier Solana in Sochi in May 2006 (epa)

A POLICY OF APPEASEMENT? Ralf Fuecks, head of the Heinrich Boell Foundation and a Green Party activist, spoke at RFE/RL's Prague broadcast center about the EU's complex relations with a resurgent Russia. RFE/RL President Jeff Gedmin moderated the discussion.