Russia outlines UK talks demands

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Talks on re-opening British Council offices can start if other bilateral negotiations are also resumed, Russia's ambassador to the UK has said.

Britain called off talks on visas and counter terrorism amid a diplomatic row over Alexander Litvinenko's murder.

Yuri Fedotov told a House of Lords committee that at that time Russia was close to a deal to give the British Council offices legal status.

The ending of talks meant they now do not have "legal ground" to operate.

But if the UK went back to its former position talks could restart: "It's a matter of goodwill from both sides."

He said the Russian offer had already been rejected by the British government as an ultimatum "and that brought us to square one again".

Harassment claim

The Russian authorities say the British Council offices in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg are operating illegally and have accused the council of violating Russian tax rules.

They ordered the closure of the two offices in December, but Britain initially refused, saying they had done nothing wrong.

UK-RUSSIA ROW Nov 2006: Alexander Litvinenko dies in LondonMay 2007: UK accuses ex-KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi of murderJuly: Russia refuses British request to extradite Mr LugovoiJuly: UK expels four Russian diplomatsJuly: Russia expels four British embassy staffDec: Russia orders British Council to shut two officesJan 2008: British Council re-opens both offices15 Jan: FSB interview staff17 Jan: Both offices suspend work <a class="" href="/1/hi/world/europe/7108524.stm">UK-Russia spy war</a><a class="" href="/1/hi/uk_politics/7192044.stm">Why Britain withholds evidence</a>

But last month the British Council suspended work at the two Russian offices saying staff were being harassed by the security services.

The UK wants Russia to hand over businessman Andrei Lugovoi, whom UK investigators suspect of murdering Mr Litvinenko - he died after being given a fatal dose of radioactive polonium 210.

Mr Fedotov was questioned by the Lords EU Committee on why a political row had been allowed to affect Britain's cultural relations with Russia.

He said: "Russia does not have any concerns about what the British Council is doing in Russia.

"We believe it is doing well in terms of cultural exchange, education but unfortunately the activities of the British Council in Russia were lacking legal ground."

Under the terms of a 1994 deal, a "special agreement" was needed for cultural centres to be opened in Russia or Britain, which had never been signed.

"We were quite close to finalising this agreement last year.

"But then, unfortunately, because the Lugavoi/Litivenenko case was over-politicised by the British side all tracks of negotiations between Russia and UK on some bilateral issues were suspended, including the discussion of the agreement on cultural relations.

"And the British Council so far doesn't have legal ground for its activities in Russia."

Visa talks

He added: "As a gesture of goodwill, the Russian government does not insist on the suspension of the activities of the British Council office in Moscow.

"We hope that the situation will improve and we will be able to resume the discussion of the bilateral agreement on cultural centres and that will allow the British Council to have a very solid legal foundation for its future activities in Russia."

He said Russia would re-start talks "as soon as the British side will accept that other tracks also are to be resumed including the visa agreement".

He added: "Unfortunately the visa problems now create some kind of impediment to the contacts between the people of Russia and England and that is very unfortunate."