Western states have become increasingly accustomed to the belligerence of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. While the US and most of the European Union want independence for Kosovo, Russia says no. While western powers seek further United Nations sanctions to force Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, Russia drags its heels. While western states battled hard last month to keep alive a crucial European arms control treaty, Mr Putin suspended it.

Against this background, Moscow’s row with London over the role in Russia of the British Council, an organisation promoting UK culture, might seem marginal. It is not. The manner in which Russia has dealt with the council and its staff in recent days has provided an important insight into the brutish nature of the Putin regime.