OREANDA-NEWS. The Russian Embassy in the UK does not recognize that the diplomatic mission has a large debt to the London authorities in paying a fee for the entry of the diplomatic mission into the city center. This is stated in the embassy’s commentary circulated on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the BBC Corporation reported that foreign embassies owed the British government organization Transport for London (TfL) more than £ 116 million ($ 150 million), because their employees do not pay entry fees to the city center, and in some cases, and for the parking lot. According to figures released by the British Foreign Office, the Russian embassy owes TfL 5.72 million pounds ($ 7.4 million).

Russian diplomats emphasized that they take full responsibility "to the obligation to respect the laws and regulations of the host country, as required by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations", but don't agree with the position that the Foreign Office takes in this case. “We would like to emphasize that British diplomats in Russia also fully enjoy the privileges and immunities established by the Vienna Convention”, the embassy added.