From Times Online
March 20, 2008

Russia charges Zaslavsky brothers with 'spying' after BP raids
Tony Halpin, of The Times, in Moscow

Two prominent members of the British Council’s alumni club have been charged with spying for foreign companies by Russia’s security service.

Brothers Alexander and Ilya Zaslavsky are accused of collecting commercial secrets from a Russian oil company on behalf of foreign rivals in the energy market.

Alexander Zaslavsky is President of the British Alumni Club in Russia, a networking group under the patronage of the British Council that brings together thousands of Russians who have studied in Britain. The British Ambassador, Sir Anthony Brenton, is the club’s honorary president.

Ilya Zaslavsky, who graduated from Oxford University in 2004, is in charge of the club’s energy committee, made up of members involved in this field. He has also been employed at the Anglo-Russian oil giant TNK-BP since last September in the gas regulation department.

Members of the alumni club told The Times that Alexander described himself as an “energy consultantâ€