Prime Minister Gordon Brown expressed Thursday his opinion towards Russia’s plan to close British government's cultural arm staring January 1. Gordon said that this decision is "totally unacceptable,” and asked for Moscow to revise this decision.

Russia's Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that the Foreign Office's cultural arm will have to close its office in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg until the beginning of the year 2008, because the cultural offices  were not legally registered, Reuters informs.

Brown told the Commons Liaison Committee: "This is totally unacceptable action that has been taken, or being mooted, by the Russian government. I think it's very important to recognize that the British Council is doing valuable work in Russia. We wish this action to be desisted from immediately. We are making our views known to the Russian government," Telegraph.co.uk reports.

The two countries have the worst relation since the Cold War, mostly due tot espionage allegations coming from both sides and the murder of ex-KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko, which occurred last year in London.

Brown said the only countries that made the same move were Myanmar and Iran.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement: "The British Council's presence in Russia is entirely consistent with international law. For Russia to carry out its threat would therefore constitute a serious attack against the legitimate cultural agent of the British government; would show a disregard for the rule of law and would only damage Russia's reputation around the world."

The organization faced accusations regarding legal issues even before Mr Litvinenko's murder, although it was legitimized by a 1994 treaty.

Britain denied the charges and began negotiations for another protocol and tried to keep the row separate from the Litvinenko affair.

Russia's foreign ministry linked now the problems of the British organization with the dispute.

After Kremlin refused to hand over Andrei Lugovoi, the first suspect in the murder of Mr Litvinenko, Britain expelled in July four Russian diplomats.