Pablo Picasso, Dryad (detail), 1908, Oil on canvas, 185 x 108 cm. The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Photo The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

MOSCOW.- Russia's Federal Culture and Cinematography Agency, Roskultura, announced it will not loan works for the From Russia: French and Russian Master Paintings exhibition that was planned to open in January at the Royal Academy of Arts because it claims that Britain failed to guarantee the return of the works.
British Culture Secretary James Purnell stated he would promote legislation offering better guarantees. He had assured Russian in a letter earlier this month that the works were protected under the State Immunity Act of 1978.
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Henri Matisse, The Dance, 1910, Oil on canvas, 260 x 391 cm. The State Hermitage Museum, St Peterburg. Photo Archives Matisse, Paris.