UK-Russia: Cultural Relations

A sad development.

В связи с неурегулированностью статуса Британского Совета в Российской Федераций прекращается его деятельность - From the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Statement from The British Council

Update:

"British Council shutdown in Russia will not affect other educational programs" - minister, TASS, Russian News Agency

MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. "The situation with suspension of work of the British Council in Russia will not affect other joint educational and student exchange programs with Britain, Russia’s Minister of Education and Science Olga Vasilyeva told TASS on Saturday. Vasilyeva said that all joint educational programs with the British Council would be suspended in Russia pending decision on the status of the organization on the country’s territory...'The decision does not affect other (joint) programs with Britain in the area of education and science, including student exchange programs,' she explained."

British Council Tweet


From 2016:

The Morning After: The future of the UK’s cultural relationship with other European nations (British Council, 2016)

https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/the_morning_after_eng.pdf

  

Michael Bird, from People, Respect, Trust – a long-term View from Russia (page 17):

“Working for an organisation that connects people worldwide, I know my own answer; and working for the British Council in Russia, I see what we do as reminding Russia that it is part of Europe and part of the world. This is significant at a time when many feel that Russia is turning in on itself, and many in Russia feel that Europe and the world are turning on them. For me, this isn’t a political statement, but an affirmation of shared cultural values. In Russia, the more difficult the political relations, the more valued the cultural relations. Our UK-Russia Year of Culture 2014, the year that political relations seriously deteriorated, was described by Martin Roth, Director of the V&A (and another contributor to this publication), as ‘a cultural emergency kit in a difficult situation’. Our UK-Russia Year of Language and Literature 2016 is celebrating Shakespeare, ‘the most Russian English writer’ according to Russian presidential adviser for international cultural relations, Mikhail Shvydkoy. We need much more of this. The conductor Valery Gergiev, Director of the Mariinsky Theatre, says: ‘Russia without culture is not a country – it’s just a huge piece of land’. In the 21st century, digital platforms give us the tools to connect people, culturally, across this huge piece of land. Cultural relations with Russia are all about people, respect and trust. They also require us to take a long-term view. We should not allow our work to be defined by political cycles, which in Russia tend to be extreme. When I look beyond the immediate issues of the day and take a long term view, the big idea is the one articulated by Mikhail Gorbachev at the time of my first posting to Moscow: the Common European Home. I still don’t see how it works in the political world, but in the cultural world, in my view, it works very well indeed”.


Large scale and long term: the UK’s cultural relationship with Russia

Also of interest:

A Moscow Times Opinion Piece by Stephen Kinnock, MP (acknowledgements to Martin Rose's tweet for the link)


British Council closure: Russia set to lose more than just diplomats, The Calvert Journal

Greece and Russia:
Cosmonaut Praises Greece in Video Message from Space, Greek Reporter


Russia: Cultural 'soft power' EuroNews


Update, Sunday Times, Culture, April 15, 2018

"Culture trumps politics"