Yaroslavl Language School Penalized for Mentioning Banned British Council

A court in Yaroslavl, located northeast of Moscow, has imposed a fine on a local language school for mentioning the British Council, a U.K.-affiliated cultural organization that was banned earlier this year, according to independent media reports from Wednesday.

The Leninsky District Court announced that it had fined the Linguist language center 60,000 rubles (approximately $735) for “involvement with an undesirable organization,” as relayed to the Mediazona news outlet.

In June, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office designated the British Council as an «undesirable organization,» alleging it promoted «LGBT propaganda» and furthered «long-term British interests in the realms of education, culture, and youth policy.»

Authorities contended that the British Council aimed to «eradicate Russian identity from post-Soviet countries.»

Reports indicate that Linguist left an outdated article on its site that included a link to the British Council, which is involved in administering the IELTS English proficiency test.

«We acted swiftly to remove all references, but the trial will proceed regardless,» said the school’s management to Mediazona last Wednesday.

Moscow has categorized numerous Western-supported organizations as «undesirable,» a classification that prohibits their operations in Russia and exposes anyone collaborating with them to potential lengthy prison sentences.

The British Council, a government-funded organization that promotes British culture abroad, had been operational in Moscow without interruption since 1959.

The organization had to shut down its regional offices in the mid-2000s following the poisoning of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London, and it completely exited Russia in 2018 after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.

Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has systematically suppressed independent civic society, banning organizations and pursuing dissenters in a crackdown that has intensified since the onset of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.