10 June 2004 17:26
UK embassy in Moscow pushes for agreement on cultural links
Moscow, 10 May: The situation with the British Council in Russia "could be resolved by signing an agreement on
the status of cultural centres". This opinion was expressed today by Richard Turner, press attache at the British
Embassy in Moscow, in a conversation with an ITAR-TASS correspondent.
He admitted that "the status of some branches of the British Council in Russia was not determined". He said
"the activities of the council are currently regulated by an agreement on cooperation in education, science and
culture from 1994, which does not provide diplomatic status for buildings occupied by the council".
Turner recalled that, on 12 May, Russian tax inspectors visited branches of the British Council in Moscow and the
provinces.
"We were surprised by this action," he said. In his words, the council "is a noncommercial
organization". "It spends 5.5m pounds sterling a year on cultural activities in Russia and all the income
received from teaching English is spent on humanitarian projects in Russia," he noted. "At present we are in
constant touch with the Russian authorities over this issue. One way of resolving it would be the signing of an
agreement on cultural centres," Turner said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier that "a government agreement is required for the opening of a branch
of a diplomatic representation". "The Russian government did not give this agreement. What is more, the
British never asked for it," a commentary from the ministry emphasized.
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
