RUSSIA – The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has claimed that the British Council office in Russia was acquiring information about Russian troops in Donbass and Novorossiya from Ukrainian refugees.

In a statement, the FSB said that after Russia launched its operation in Ukraine, “the British Council’s activities acquired a clearly subversive character. Thus, through Ukrainian refugees and their family and close ties in Ukraine, the British Council organized work to obtain intelligence information about the development of the situation in the new regions and the deployment of Russian troops.”

Activities of British Council in Moscow Declared Undesirable

The Russian Prosecutor General has formally declared all activities of the British Council in Russia as undesirable, adding that while it claims to be an independent organization, it has based its work around the British government’s priorities, is accountable to parliament and is funded by the UK’s foreign policy agency.

“The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has made a decision to designate the activities of the British Council international organization as undesirable in the Russian Federation,” the Prosecutor General’s office said.

The office added that “under the guise of educational and cultural activities and work to organize educational events under the pretext of English-language programs, members of the Council actually promote long-term British interests and values in education, culture and youth policy.”