MOSCOW (MN) - Officers of the Russian Federal Security Service have detained two men - citizens of the Russian Federation and the United States - over an alleged attempt to obtain information that was classified as commercial secret, the FSB press center reported on Thursday.

According to the report the detention took place on March 12, the detained, who were only identified as A. Zas­lavsky and his brother I. Zaslavsky, alle­gedly tried to get classified information from an employee of a closed enter­prise of the Russian oil and gas complex.  A. Zaslavsky worked as the head of the Alumni Club in the British Council and I. Zaslavsky worked in the British branch of the TNK-BP Mana­gement corporation, the report reads.  

 According to the investigation department of the Federal Security Service, the suspects gathered information that would give a number of foreign oil companies advantage over their Russian competitors.

A spokesman for the British Council's London office said the British Alumni Club has no direct connection to the British Council. "We are obviously concerned by the charges, but they do not directly affect the British Council," he told The Moscow News. The organization was involved in a conflict with Russian authorities in late 2007 over licensing of their English-language courses and had to shut down its offices in Yekaterinburg and St. Petersburg.

TNK-BP press officers were also unavailable for comment. The company's Moscow office was searched by law enforcers on Wednesday. The AFP news agency quoted a spokesperson of the Russian Interior Ministry as saying that the searches were connected with a criminal probe into Sidanko - an oil company that was merged to form TNK-BP in 2003.

The Russo-British Chamber of Commerce could not comment on the incident.