Russia Stokes UK Tension with Arrest

Via CNN -

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (CNN) -- Britain's relations with Russia deteriorated further Wednesday after the director of the British Council office in St Petersburg was detained and its local staff were summoned for questioning.

The British Council, the cultural arm of the British Embassy, said that Stephen Kinnock was followed, stopped, and released an hour later by Russian authorities on Tuesday night.

Kinnock is the son of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock.

The council said the FSB, the Russian security service, summoned the office's Russian staff for interviews, which continued Wednesday.

A statement from the British Council said it was "deeply concerned" by the incident.

The Interfax news agency, quoting a source in local law enforcement, reported that Kinnock was pulled over for drunk driving, but a spokesman for the British Council in London disputed that report.

"I can confirm that he was stopped for a minor traffic violation and was detained by the Russian authorities," spokesman Antony Watson said. "We reject any allegations."

Watson said Kinnock called the British consul general, who advised him not to take a Breathalyzer test. He said Kinnock was following diplomatic protocol under the Geneva Conventions.

The council opened its office in St Petersburg on Monday and opened another office in Yekaterinburg last week. Both moves defied an order from the Russian Foreign Ministry, which said the offices were operating illegally and had to shut down as of January 1.

British officials, however, said they had been given no grounds for closing.

The St Petersburg office was closed Wednesday, due to the incident, the British Council said.

British Ambassador Anthony Brenton was summoned to the Foreign Ministry offices Monday and afterwards said any action against the British Council would violate international law.

Interfax reported that, after the meeting, Brenton said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov explained Russia's reaction stemmed from the continuing controversy between the two countries over the murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

The closure of the British Council offices is the latest in a string of diplomatic disputes between Russia and Britain which started with Litvinenko's death in late 2006.

Britain issued an extradition request for its prime suspect in the case, Moscow-based businessman Andrei Lugovoi, but Russia refused to hand him over. Britain then expelled Russian diplomats from London, leading to the expulsion of British diplomats from Moscow.

Last month, Russian authorities nearly pulled an exhibition of art from Russian museums that was scheduled to open at London's Royal Academy of Arts. The show went ahead after Britain brought forward new legislation guaranteeing the art's return.