UK and Russia trade threats in diplomatic row

By Adrian Croft

LONDON (Reuters) - Russia and Britain traded threats and recrimination on Tuesday as a diplomatic feud over the role of the British government's cultural arm worsened.

Russia threatened further action against the operations of the British Council, while London hit out at Moscow's crackdown on two of the cultural body's offices, saying the move would only exacerbate the spat.

Moscow announced on Monday it would impose visa restrictions against regional offices of the Council in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg that are defying a Kremlin order to suspend operations.

The move is part of a dispute stemming from the 2006 murder in London of Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian emigre and Kremlin critic who Britain believes was killed by a Russian assassin.

Moscow's ambassador to London, Yuri Fedotov, said Russia could also take action against the British Council in Moscow if the cultural body continued to defy the Kremlin.

"If the British Council will continue to defy the Russian authorities the next step would be, I would say, the British Council in Moscow," he told BBC radio.

"So far ... the British Council office in Moscow was spared as an act of goodwill although all legal issues which are relevant with the regard to the offices of the British Council in other regions of Russia are also relevant for Moscow."

Britain's defiance was "not helpful for the prospects of further development of relations", he added.