VZCZCXRO1775
PP RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #0315 0381258
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 071258Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6434
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS MOSCOW 000315 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM PREL SOCI RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIANS PETITION PUTIN TO RE-OPEN BRITISH COUNCIL 
OFFICES 
 
REF: A. MOSCOW 270 
     ¶B. MOSCOW 103 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  On January 24, a group of Russian 
graduates of British universities sent a letter to Putin 
asking that he allow the British Council offices to reopen. 
The letter asked that cultural and exchange programs not be 
held hostage to the current chilly relations between Russia 
and Britain. The GOR has not responded to the request and, in 
the meantime, the St. Petersburg British Council office 
officially ceased operations. Only the Moscow office 
continues to operate unimpeded.  End summary. 
 
A Plea from Russian Citizens 
---------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Following rare public criticism of Putin's foreign 
policy (ref A) by senior GOR officials, more than 150 Russian 
citizens on January 24 signed a letter to Putin asking him to 
allow the British Council to re-open its regional offices. 
All of the signatories had graduated from a British institute 
of higher education, which they attended with assistance from 
the British Council.  The letter noted the damage caused to 
Russia's international reputation and enumerated the benefits 
Russia received through cultural cooperation with Britain via 
the Council. In particular, the letter stated that the 
Council filled a niche "for which Russia had neither the 
resources nor the knowledge."  Although the coordinators of 
the petition informed the British Embassy of the letter in 
advance, no one at the Embassy initiated or assisted the 
effort. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The request followed the shuttering of the British 
Council offices in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg in 
January due to GOR pressure on the local staff (ref B) in the 
wake of continued Russian unhappiness with HMG's efforts to 
extradite Litvinenko.  The St. Petersburg office released its 
staff and moved all materials to its Moscow office, which 
operates unimpeded. On February 6, we received word that the 
British Council had canceled its lease on the office space it 
had been using in St. Petersburg, and its UK staff have 
departed the country. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) A British Embassy colleague told us February 6 the 
UK was pleased by the petition.  However, he saw no sign that 
tensions with the GOR were abating. With the British Council 
unwilling to subject its Russian employees to harassment from 
the Federal Security Service, he expected no change in the 
status quo. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Comment:  This rare public protest is a tribute to 
the value and effectiveness of international exchanges, as 
well as evidence of the disconnect between the freeze in 
GOR-UK relations and London's status as a home away from home 
for an increasing slice of Russian elite. 
BURNS