Moscow, Jun 6 (PTI): Russia has declared the British Council an “undesirable” organisation, accusing it of acting as a cover for the UK intelligence service MI-6.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova alleged that the UK intelligence services use the British Council in operations aimed at undermining the sovereignty of countries.
“Russia’s competent authorities have received information that British intelligence services use the British Council in clandestine operations aimed at eroding the sovereignty of independent countries and it engages in secret subversive activities,” Zakharova said.
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office designated the British Council an undesirable organisation, although it has been defunct since 2018.
Zakharova said that following the start of the “special military operation”, referring to the Ukraine campaign, the British Council “acted in lockstep with the unprecedentedly hostile anti-Russian moves of the UK government”.
The organization “vigorously helped with the general Western effort to discredit the policy of our country’s leadership and diminish Russian influence in various regions of the world, especially in the CIS,” the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson said, according to news agency TASS.
“Widely used for this purpose were elements of soft power, along with a variety of grant programs. Efforts were arranged to collect information on the situation in the new constituents of the Russian Federation, the situation on the engagement line, as well as other data of a potentially sensitive nature,” she said.
“Even though the Russian office of the British Council, as has been already noted, was subjected to a forcible closure, the parent organisation continued its subversive work from positions in other countries, engaging our expatriates in its projects,” she said.
“Therefore, the designation of the entire British Council as an undesirable organisation was, essentially, a matter of common sense and time. Until last year, a limitation in Russian legislation prevented that from happening, as organisations founded by government agencies of foreign countries could not be given the status of undesirable. This lacuna has now been eliminated.” Zakharova said that Moscow has warned “friendly” countries against forging closer ties and “flirting” with the UK.
“Creating favourable conditions for such organisations as the British Council, giving them opportunities to work with youth and implement seemingly harmless cultural and educational projects are fraught with the risk of losing control over important social and political processes, as the positions of influence that London acquires in the course of such activities are subsequently used to meddle in the internal affairs of other countries, directly threatening their sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Zakharova cautioned former Soviet republics. PTI VS NSD NSD
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