Four Russian museums have decided against sending paintings for an exhibition in London after failing to receive guarantees that the works of art would not be seized, according to Irina Antonova, Director of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.
The exhibition which was due to open in London on January 26 would have included 120 French and Russian masterpieces. The organisers had asked British authorities to give them full guarantees the collection would be safely returned. There is concern that some of the paintings might have been seized in London by heirs of former owners wishing to claim them as their own.