• Steve LeVine covers foreign affairs for Business Week. He previously was correspondent for Central Asia and the Caucasus for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for 11 years. His first book, The Oil and the Glory, a history of the former Soviet Union through the lens of oil, was published in October 2007. Putin’s Labyrinth, his new book, profiles Russia through the lives and deaths of six Russians. The updated paperback was released in April 2009.



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    A Blog on Russia, Energy, the Caspian and
    Beyond

    Thursday, January 17, 2008

    Brits Close Satellite Cultural Offices in Russia

    Update to yesterday's post on the U.K.-Russian dispute over the Litvinenko assassination: Great Britain has closed the two British Council offices ordered shut by the Russians outside Moscow. The British say that relations have reverted to Cold War-era temperatures and tactics. What's surprising is that the British seem genuinely astonished to be treated the way many outliers -- local political critics, uncooperative foreign companies, Russian reporters -- have for the last seven years.

    Photo: SimonDavo
    Rights: Creative Commons

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    posted by Steve at

    2 Comments:

    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    BBC has an overview of the Russian media's reaction. The summary: the British attitude is rude, the Russian government's - dumb.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/
    2/hi/europe/7194066.stm

    January 17, 2008 6:57 PM  
    Blogger Steve said...

    Interesting comments. I would not have expected some of them. Thanks for the link.

    January 17, 2008 7:02 PM  

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