Moscow Diary: Under surveillance

As a British-Russian row rumbles on, the BBC's James Rodgers considers whether it signifies a deeper Russian suspicion of foreigners and their ideas. His diary is published fortnightly.

SHAKESPEARE AND SECRET POLICE

If they were secret police, they were not making much of a secret of it. Two young men took turns to keep an eye on what was going on.

The FSB has accused Britain of playing "provocative games"

One had a hat pulled down over his brow, shadowing his eyes. The other had a scarf wrapped round the lower half of his face, perhaps to keep out the cold - perhaps to make himself harder to identify.

They looked like they might be students, trying to earn a bit of extra money to stretch out a stipend.

One would stand there for about an hour. Then the other would arrive, they would chat briefly, then the first one would disappear, only to come back for another turn later on.

I was reporting from outside the offices of the British Council in St Petersburg.

The day before, the diplomatic row over the organisation's status in Russia had reignited. The British ambassador had been called to the foreign ministry in Moscow.

Even though each side (Russia and Britain) has evoked the Cold War as it strives to land verbal punches, this is not the Cold War

I did not know it then, but that evening the British Council's Russian employees would get an invitation to talk to the FSB: Russia's modern-day secret police, and the main successor agency to the Soviet KGB.

The FSB even published a statement on their website, saying that in order to stop Russian citizens from being dragged into the "provocative games of the British", they had started to conduct "explanatory work among Russian citizens on the staff of this organisation".

The British Council employees were probably expecting it.

"Explaining" to them why they should not turn up for work was always going to be a reliable way, from the Russian point of view, of ensuring that the office did close its doors.

1994 AND ALL THAT

Much has been made of a 1994 agreement between the British and Russian governments establishing the British Council in Russia. Britain says that agreement enshrined the organisation's right to work here. Russia now questions that.

Russians have bitter memories of the economic crises of the 1990s

At its roots, though, this is a political, not a legal, row.

The 1994 date is worth mentioning.

In the immediate post-communist years, foreign organisations - political, commercial and cultural - flooded in to Russia.

The influx of outsiders coincided with a time of chaos and misery for many ordinary Russians. Some here seem convinced that the two things are linked.

Russia has got its confidence back. It cannot change its history, but it can use contemporary events - like the diplomatic row which has followed the murder of ex-KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko - to change the way things are now.

"When sorrows come, they come not in single spies, but in battalions," says Claudius in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The people who were watching us could perhaps have checked the quotation in the British Council, if it were still working.

As this confrontation continues, there may well be battalions of sorrows still to come, and battalions of spies.

The sorrow in this round of the stand-off lies in the passing of a time when Britain and Russia were keener to build ties, rather than sever them.

The British Council is not the full story.

Even though each side has evoked the Cold War as it strives to land verbal punches, this is not the Cold War.

For the last few years, British trade with Russia has grown annually by about 20%. During the first nine months of last year, UK investment amounted to some £12bn ($24bn), according to the British embassy.

That period, of course, was the immediate aftermath of the murder of Mr Litvinenko - and covers the period when diplomats were expelled from Moscow and London.

This is the real indicator to watch for the state of relations between London and Moscow. The diplomatic links, and the cultural ones, have been dealt a heavy blow - but a grand gesture could quickly restore them.

Damage to business ties could have much wider consequences - and be harder to rebuild. If they start to suffer, the relationship really is in trouble.

PROHIBITED CULTURAL VALUES

This row had been coming for a while. There is an extra clue for anyone arriving in Russia at Moscow's Domodedovo airport.

Above the baggage carousel, there is a notice from Russian customs informing passengers of things they are not allowed to bring into the country.

Along with the usual warnings about drugs, plants, and foodstuffs, it says "cultural values".

I assume this is a mistranslation of the Russian, which might better be rendered as "objects of cultural value", but it may be a sign that post-Soviet Russia really has had enough of foreigners and their ideas.

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Your comments:

Good for the Russians to be suspicious, secular humanism has become a social weapon of warfair and they have had the forsight to recognize this.
bill macleod, Carlyle UK

The last two times I have flown into Domodedevo I have been questioned when going through customs as to where I have come from. The words 'the U.K' seem to be a signal to check my bags. The people I work with embrace different cultures. In the words of my closest Russian friend, it is not down to nationality and we must never generalise. To be tossed casually into the foreigners' melting pot, which is now bubbling over because of this latest Russo-Anglo row, is very frustrating to say the least, especially as it took me so long to earn my colleagues' trust and respect. On the ground, we are working and socialising as normal. So let's not carried away with the idea that all foreigners are hated in Russia, this is simply not true.
moscowexpat, moscow

I am so happy to see a country (Russia) that is not going to simply allow 'western progressives' to undermine its national sovereignty. Good for them. Advice to mr Putin, expel all foreign NGO's and other do-gooder organizations.
Marcel, The Hague, the Netherlands

Sir, don't mix all foreigners in one pot. We continue to welcome those foreigners - like French, Germans and Scandinavians - who really bring something positive with the vision of mutual benefit in mind. But we indeed have had enough of England with its specific flavor. Polite on the surface, this "Englishness" definely cannot be described with words like "redneck" and "prickly". And english language providently does not have a special offensive word for describing a person who is so ready - always and everywhere, regardless of everything - to agressively position his own interests over interests of others. Get some benefit from Russia by enriching your language with new word for such a human quality: ZHLOBSTVO.
Emelyan, Moscow

Emelyan, believe me that zhlobstvo is far more widespread among our own countrymen than in any other nation in the world. This anti-English (and to this effect anti-American) hysteria is being whipped up by the Kremlin to draw attention away from horrible murders committed by its henchmen on the Russian soil and abroad, from rising prices and crippled soldiers, and from ridiculous spectacle called "Russian elections", etc. The great country is the country that attracts foreigners. Russia will never really become one as long as it's willing to engage in such petty squabbles. Only starry-eyed pseudo-patriots as yourself may believe that this spat improves Russia standing in the world.
Vlad, Moscow, Russia

England showed the height of arrogance, by refusing to extradite Chechen terrorists and Russian thieves that stole billions of dollars from Russia. Do they really think those billionaires made that much money in such a short period of time by doing lawful business? UK refuses to extradite RUSSIAN citizens to RUSSIA and at the same time demands the extradition of RUSSIAN citizen to the UK when it is clearly against Russian constitution. In addition, I think (according to UN law) it is allowed for a country not to extradite their citizens and put them on trial in their country (if given evidence, which UK doesn't want to do).
Gassan, Houston, Texas

Russia has found itself again, the methods its using to rebuild itself as a super power aren't all acceptable, especially those linked to politics. But inside Russia they seem to be working. I suppose we all took advantage of Russia while it was weak and vulnerable, some of us took too much advantage and the Russians became irate. What happened was clearly unfortunate and what is happening now - truly sad, what us foreigners need to do is stand back and not argue with them and wait for a better time in the future to discuss the matters. We're all behaving a bit like children at the moment, "If you hit me - I'll hit you". Yes, we all have the right to defend ourselves - but defence is not what we should be discussing, we should be talking about developing our cultural links, joint projects between schools and other educational establishments, building on business ties and improving our communications. So lets just take a step back, wait and be patient.
Nicomo, Warsaw, Poland

The point is that the British Council in Russia is an organisation governed by a foreign (UK) state. Foreign relations are handled by the Russian federal government. My understanding is that British Council was allowed to operate by the Russian government in one city - Moscow. The British Council later opened two more offices - which was not agreed upon. These are the offices the Russians now want closed. Rightfully so. From what I see in the media, the British side is the one politicising this issue.
Aleksey V Lazar, Minnesota, USA

There is no cold war, but there is a feeling in Russia that western Europe and the US have not been fair with Russia. In the 90s, westerners came to spread their ideas and make money, but all the russians got was the bad reputation they now have and any problems they had to solve themselves. I think that in the early 90s people in Russia had a very positive image of the role the EU and the US could play in making life better for them. Some people still admire these countries ideas, but overall, there is no trust any more. In the long run I think Russia belongs to this club of western powers, but to get there and to have better, friendlier relations between these countries, there has to be mutual trust and even conditions.
Dimitri, Paris, France