{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='British Council reopens in 2 cities, despite order to close, UK amb reax' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bcf8d8eafeecae1309c9' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bcf8d8eafeecae1309c9' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nBritish Council reopens in 2 cities, despite order to close, UK amb reax\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eSt.Petersburg 1. Wide of St. Petersburg street2. Wide of entrance of British Council (BC) office3. Close up address sign 4. Close up British Council sign 5. Wide of entrance 6. Close up BC sign inside 7. Wide of people seated 8. Mid of...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eSt.Petersburg \u003cbr/\u003e1. Wide of St. Petersburg street\u003cbr/\u003e2. Wide of entrance of British Council (BC) office\u003cbr/\u003e3. Close up address sign \u003cbr/\u003e4. Close up British Council sign \u003cbr/\u003e5. Wide of entrance \u003cbr/\u003e6. Close up BC sign inside \u003cbr/\u003e7. Wide of people seated \u003cbr/\u003e8. Mid of BC entrance \u003cbr/\u003e9. Wide of journalists inside BC office \u003cbr/\u003e10. Kennedy talking to journalist \u003cbr/\u003e11. SOUNDBITE: (English) James Kennedy, director of the British Council in Russia:\u003cbr/\u003e\"As far as we are aware, the British Council is working legally in Russia. There is a 1994 cultural agreement in which the British Council is named 'the implementing agency on the British side'. And we have registered for tax and complied with all the other requests of the Russian authorities in respect of legal issues.\" \u003cbr/\u003e12. Wide of street\u003cbr/\u003e13. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Tatyana Mokhova, Vox Pop:\u003cbr/\u003e\"I think they (BC offices) should continue working,  because such offices are needed to develop culture in the society. I think they should not be closed.\" \u003cbr/\u003e14.SOUNDBITE (Russian) Sergey Ermoshkin, Vox Pop:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Any reasonable person understands that British intelligence is legally working under cover of such organisations. It is absolutely clear to everybody.\" \u003cbr/\u003eMoscow\u003cbr/\u003e15. Wide of car with British Ambassador to Russia Anthony Brenton arriving to Russian Foreign Ministry, pan to him entering the building \u003cbr/\u003e16. Wide tilt down Foreign Ministry building \u003cbr/\u003e17. Wide of Brenton coming out of Foreign Ministry building \u003cbr/\u003e18. Cutaway cameraman \u003cbr/\u003e19. SOUNDBITE: (English) Anthony Brenton, British Ambassador to Russia:\u003cbr/\u003e\"It was short, as you have just seen. It was very clear. Deputy Minister Titov has handed me quite a long piece of paper setting out the Russian legal view of the work of the British Council and describing possible ways forward. I haven't studied it in detail yet. What I said to him in reply was a re-statement of our clear view that the British Council is working entirely legally, that it will continue therefore to work. And that any Russian action against it would be a breach of international law. And also the obvious fact that the work of the British Council is actually very helpful to Russia and very popular amongst the Russian people.\" \u003cbr/\u003e20. Cutaway Soviet emblem on the building \u003cbr/\u003e21. Mid shot pan Brenton getting into his car \u003cbr/\u003eBritain's ambassador to Moscow said on Monday that the British Council will continue to operate in Russia\u003cbr/\u003eand warned that any Russian action against it \"would be a breach of international law.\"\u003cbr/\u003eAmbassador Anthony Brenton spoke after he was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to hear a complaint over Britain's defiance of an order to shut the offices of the organisation, which acts as the cultural arm of the British\u003cbr/\u003eEmbassy, in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. \u003cbr/\u003eMoscow had ordered the offices closed starting Jan. 1, saying they were operating illegally. \u003cbr/\u003eBritish officials say Russian authorities have given them no grounds to accept that claim.\u003cbr/\u003e\"As far as we are aware, the British Council is working legally in Russia,\" James Kennedy, director of the British Council in Russia, told reporters at its St. Petersburg office. \u003cbr/\u003e\"There is a 1994 cultural agreement in which the British Council is named 'the implementing agency on the British side'. And we have registered for tax and complied with all the other requests of the Russian authorities in respect of legal issues,\" he added.\u003cbr/\u003eKennedy said the office in Yekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains, also opened Monday. The British Council said\u003cbr/\u003estaff there had returned to work Jan. 9.    \u003cbr/\u003eKennedy said communications have been taking place through diplomatic channels in an effort to resolve the dispute. \u003cbr/\u003eThe views of Russians in St Petersburg were mixed.\u003cbr/\u003e\"I think they should continue working,  because such offices are needed to develop culture in the society. I think they should not be closed,\" one woman, Tatyana Mokhova, said.\u003cbr/\u003e\"Any reasonable person understands that British intelligence is legally working under cover of such organisations. It is absolutely clear to everybody, one man, Sergey Ermoshkin, said.\u003cbr/\u003eEach side has accused the other of politicising the dispute, brewing at a time when relations between Russia\u003cbr/\u003eand Britain are at a post-Cold War low, badly strained by the 2006 poisoning death in London of former Russian\u003cbr/\u003esecurity agent Alexander Litvinenko. \u003cbr/\u003eRussia has rejected Britain's request to extradite the main suspect, Andrei Lugovoi. \u003cbr/\u003eBritain expelled four Russian diplomats to protest Moscow's stand, and Russia - also angry over Britain's refusal to extradite wanted tycoon Boris Berezovsky and Chechen separatist envoy Akhmed Zakayev - responded in kind.\u003cbr/\u003eRussian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov indicated last month that the British Council closure order was taken as a\u003cbr/\u003ecountermeasure to the diplomat expulsion.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='action-container flex 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