HOWZAT

Furthermore, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has told the Russians that the works are protected under the State Immunity Act of 1978, which safeguards all overseas state property in Britain.

Despite this, Mr Titov accused Britain of undermining the project by failing to provide “essential guarantees of the exhibits’ inviolability and their safe return to Russia”.

He added: “We are making efforts to obtain such guarantees now. If we can’t do that, we will certainly not expose the masterpieces to possible harm.”

A Royal Academy spokesperson said: “This is a very important show for the academy and preparations for the exhibition are proceeding as planned.”

The show, which is on tour at present in Germany, explores the links between French and Russian art during a period that witnessed some of the most important developments in modern art, including Impressionism. Many of the works have never been seen outside Russia.

The star of the exhibition is set to be The Dance by Matisse. Some of the greatest works by Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin will hang alongside those by Kandinsky, Malevich and Chagall. President Putin and Gordon Brown had been invited to contribute forewords to the catalogue.

Rising diplomatic tensions

November 23, 2006 Ex-Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko dies of radiation poisoning at University College Hospital, London. In a statement released the next day he accuses President Putin of involvement in his death

December 10 British authorities travel to Moscow to interview an ex-KGB bodyguard, Andrei Lugovoi, who met Litvinenko in London on the day he became ill

May 22, 2007 Sir Ken Macdonald, the Director of Public Prosecutions, recommends that Lugovoi should be charged with the murder of Litvinenko

July 5 Yuri Chaika, the Russian Prosecutor-General, refuses an extradition request from Britain for Lugovoi. Russia begins an investigation into claims that Litvinenko and the exiled businessman Boris Berezovsky had links to the British secret services

July 16 David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, announces the decision to expel four diplomats from the Russian Embassy

July 19 Russia says it will expel four British Embassy staff, and that co-operation in counter-terrorism will no longer be possible

Dec 12 Russia orders the British Council to close its two offices outside the capital by January, labelling it a retaliatory measure in the continuing dispute

Dec 17 Gordon Brown calls the measure “totally unacceptable”, and the British Council says that it will not comply with the order

Dec 19 The loan of more than 120 paintings is cancelled

Source: Times database

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