…MOSCOW PROTESTS INVITATION TO BRITAIN…

Before arriving in Strasbourg, Zakaev had visited Britain, where he had been invited to the Foreign Office for discussions and had also been given an opportunity to hold a press conference at the House of Parliament. On January 21, Roderic Lyne, the British ambassador to Russia, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to receive a stiff note of protest concerning Zakaev’s reception at the Foreign Office. This act, the Russian note said, “contradicted the spirit of cooperation and partnership between the two countries, including in the sphere of joint resistance to international terrorism” (RIA Novosti, January 23).