The dispute over the British Council’s activities in Russia continues, with a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry saying that the Council’s continued presence in the country constitutes “unlawful activity”. Amid protests that native Russian workers are being outnumbered by foreigners, the Russian government say it intends to cut the number of foreign migrant workers the in the country by two thirds in 2008. Last year saw an influx of roughly six million workers without visas. Russia has admitted that customs officials thwarted more than 120 attempts to smuggle “highly radioactive” material out of the country last year, “fuel[ing] concern about how many illegal exports were not halted”.