March 21, 2008 (LPAC) - On March 19, Russian police raided the office of the joint venture between British Petroleum and three Russian oligarchs, TNK-BP, in Moscow. The following day, Russian police made two arrests of BP officials, who will face charges of corruption and of espionage, according to Russian and British media reports. The two men have done university studies at Wellington College and Oxford in the UK, on a grant by the British Council (which is itself under investigation in Russia for legal violations, espionage, and subversion).

One of the two arrested men, Alexander Zavlavky, is president of the British Alumni Club, an organization of Russians who have studied at British universities. The Club is closely linked to the British Embassy in Moscow. Also of interest is that Ilya Zavlavsky, the brother of Alexander, is a member of an anti-Putin group that works via Bill Gate's Facebook operation.