[MSN] Russia has given official approval for a landmark exhibition of paintings to travel to London for display at the Royal Academy (RA)

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

January 9, 2008
Russia gives go-ahead to Royal Academy art exhibition
Manifesto of October 17th by Ilya Repin

Manifesto of October 17th by Ilya Repin will now be allowed to travel to
London for the much-anticipated exhibition±
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_art
s/article3161933.ece

Tony Halpin, Moscow Correspondent of The Times

Russia has given official approval for a landmark exhibition of paintings to
travel to London for display at the Royal Academy (RA).

The state culture agency, Roskultura, announced today that four museums had
received licences to send the artworks to Britain, ending a damaging row
that had threatened to wreck the eagerly anticipated show.

The dispute had been seen as the latest episode in the increasingly bitter
relationship between London and Moscow since President Putin refused to
extradite the man wanted by Britain for the murder of Alexander Litvinenko.

The RA now faces a race against time to open the “From Russia” exhibition on
January 26. Anna Kolupayeva, a Roskultura spokeswoman, said: “The consent
has been given. Hopefully we will be able to open the exhibition on January
26, unless there are unanticipated obstacles.”

The exhibition faced cancellation in December when Russia said that it could
not accept guarantees from the British Government that works would be
protected against seizure. Some of the paintings are claimed by heirs of
collectors who owned them before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, when they
were expropriated by the Communists.

Britain was among the few European countries without a specific anti-seizure
law. Russia had said before that it would not lend works to countries
without such laws after 55 paintings held by the Pushkin Museum were briefly
impounded in 2005 while on loan in Switzerland.

James Purnell, the Culture Secretary, made a last-ditch effort to save the
exhibition by fast-tracking anti-seizure legislation, due to come into force
in February, to make it effective from January 7.

The effort paid off today, the first day back at work in Moscow after the
new year holidays, when the culture agency announced that it was satisfied.
The 120 artworks are now expected to travel to London from Germany, where
they have been on display in D sseldorf.