Russia links the UK embassy’s culture department to terrorist acts

In August 2020, while in the process of taking up a new role as Head of the International Office at a major Russian university, I was brought into the bidding process to organise a series of forums for the UK-Russia University Alliance. Having won the rights to host three events at MISIS University (The National University of Science and Technology), I was dropped into the moderator role after the most curious of curious decisions from the British Embassy in Moscow. Or rather, the decision taken by the Department of Culture and Education of the British Embassy in Moscow, which, it turned out, was directed solely from London with little regard for the Ambassador or diplomats.

As part of my job, I was to find a suitable host who would moderate the first of the three MISIS setpieces. It was titled “Gender Parity in Academic Leadership”, something that Russia continues to make great strides in. The rector of MISIS was a woman, and the rector of my previous university, the Russian State Social University (RSSU), was a woman. So logically, I wanted a female moderator. From the UK side, I’d gotten on board the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of St Andrews in Scotland, Professor Dame Sally Mapstone, and other academic leaders, while Russia provided the best of the best from both male and female ranks. It was exciting, until it wasn’t.

I’d asked a British friend of mine who is an award-winning journalist and “proud product of the brilliant British education system”, as she said herself, to moderate. She was accepted, and then, 24 hours until our international online broadcast, the Department of Culture and Education of the British Embassy in Moscow emailed to say: “Not for us.” My colleague, an amazing Russian professor who had expertly stitched together the entire event, was furious at such a move.

A fuller explanation was that our moderator not only worked as a presenter on Russia Today, ​but she’d previously worked in China, the links making her “undesirable”. It stood at odds with her work with British media and writing for, wait for it, the Daily Mail. I sat in my office and began quickly looking for a suitable replacement when Elena, the professor, came in and said​, “You’ll do.” It felt a little like my parents had to offer land, cattle, and gold just to find me a bride. Regardless of feeling like the least-worst option, I moderated the event, presented at the follow-up event in St Petersburg’s ITMO University, and then hosted the next two in MISIS. It was a reminder that there was no longer a British Council in Russia, making decisions that had riders attached.

British Council Becomes ‘Dept’

Against the background of the “Skripal Case” in March 2018 and tit-for-tat diplomat expulsion—23 each—put the British Council in an untenable position. With both sides sabre-rattling, including demands from some non-sports fans to withdraw the England football team from that summer’s World Cup in Russia, the ‘Department’ was established within the embassy to continue working with Russian universities, language programs, and NGOs. It still went quack and walked like a duck, but to London was now a corgi. There was no longer an official British Council office, just the ‘Department’.

Fast forward to 2020–21, the sharing of information, knowledge, and academic processes was flowing after a year of lockdowns and travel restrictions. On the strength of my hosting performances, I was invited to a meeting to discuss sitting on a local committee to filter Chevening scholarship students. I attended one meeting, as an observer, and it was my last. I thought we would listen to the backgrounds and motivation letters of aspiring applicants—at least that’s what I was told to expect.

What happened was rather different in Russia.

Prepared to offer insight or opinions on the quality of university students, with leading academic experts having a final say in this pre-selection process, I quickly realised I was the only person involved in Russian education at any level. A list of candidates was discussed, with not a single one having applied through the system. Being 2021, and the world still in COVID-19 recovery, I was generous in my view of the manner of selection. That was until I noticed the discussion was more around the candidates’ opinions on politics and current matters. One of the ‘Department’ employees asked for the opinion of a local woman involved in an NGO on the “social activism” of one young woman. I asked if her English language skills were strong enough for a year in the UK—cue much mirth at my expense.

That Monday meeting was to be followed by a Friday “decision strategy session”; however, I politely declined any further participation in the process, as it didn’t need my input.

Last week’s decision by the Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office of Russia that the ‘Department’ (formerly British Council) “promoted long-term British interests in education, culture, and youth policy” to the detriment of Russia confused me on many levels. Why now? Why not in 2022?

According to the PG’s Office, leaks from the anonymous hacker group into the British Council’s activities in Russia tipped the balance. ‘Anonymous’ revealed that first the British Council and then the ‘Department’ cooperated with MI6 in discrediting the authorities and blurring national identity under the guise of cooperation with universities and educational alliances, financing “social initiatives and cultural events”. Allow me to add a tiny bit of context as to my confusion—the report was issued in 2021!

Lavrov Makes His Stand Clear

It became a little clearer when Sergey Lavrov, speaking at the Future Forum-2050 in Moscow this week, said that Kyiv “would be helpless without support” from London to carry out terrorist acts in Russia. He said that the UK ​i​s “100%” helping Ukraine with attacks, including one which saw a passenger train in Bryansk hit, leaving seven dead on May 31. The ‘Department’ was booted on June 3.

My personal confusion, however, remains. I spent five years recruiting foreign students to Russia, the majority coming on scholarships that pay for a full undergrad degree with the potential to continue to postgrad. This year alone, 200 Indian kids are eligible for full grants to complete degrees in Russia, and this is only part of the bonanza of educational opportunities in the country. Last May, over 25,000 Indian students were reported as studying full-time in the Russian Federation. That’s good, right? Academic, sporting, cultural exchange works to bring people together, I was raised to believe.

I asked a former colleague from RSSU, now working with the Ministry of Higher Education and Science, about the closure of the ‘Department’, and she said, “The difference is, we provide free education, accommodation, and knowledge for as many as possible, regardless of political views. They select who is useful for their ends.”
I disagreed with her and still do. I see the good being made in linking universities and creating dialogue, but did I inadvertently open the door to more nefarious and ill-meaning sorts?

Moscow termed the British Council a “legacy of the colonial era”, which is not part of cultural diplomacy but rather a tool in hybrid warfare. Although I saw the odd way in which Chevening candidates from Russia were hand-picked by the ‘Department’, I also saw how honest, genuine academics could discuss projects and cooperate.

However, one thing is almost certain: as the British Council changed to the Department of Culture and Education of the British Embassy in Moscow, there will be a new shingle hanging outside the compound on the bank of the Moscow River in the near future. London doesn’t let go lightly, from historical experience.

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