UK ministers, top officials UK not participating in cross year of culture with Russia

Published July 28, 2014 at 5:43 pm

In March 2013, the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary William Hague and the Russian Federation's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that 2014 will see the biggest ever programme of UK cultural projects take place across Russia and an unprecedented showcase of Russian culture in the United Kingdom.

Photo by blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/

London has decided to cancel the participation in the Year of Culture of the UK and Russia at the level of ministers and top officials

“In light of the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia and continuing Russian support to the separatist destabilization of eastern Ukraine, Her Majesty’s Government has withdrawn all Ministerial and senior official involvement in the Year of Culture,” the British embassy in Moscow told Interfax.

At the same time, “the British Council is overseeing the UK program in Russia which we hope will build long term people to people and institutional links,” the embassy said.