Photo credit: ksors.org
The Russian ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov believes that disagreements between the two countries in the cultural sphere negatively affect ordinary people who are denied access to many masterpieces of world art. According to the diplomat, due to difficulties in implementing joint projects, American art fans have not seen the works of Russian artists and artifacts from Russian museum collections in Russia for almost ten years, TASS reports.
The Russian ambassador set forth his vision of the situation with the cultural interaction between the two countries, as well as the consequences of disagreements in the humanitarian sphere, in an article published in The Washington Times. According to the diplomat, the exchange of exhibitions between Russia and the United States has been suspended due to the absence of an intergovernmental agreement on the protection of cultural objects during exchanges.
According to the head of the diplomatic mission, the current situation leads to the emergence of "cultural barriers" between the peoples of the two countries, a lack of trust and respect between them. Anatoly Antonov called this state of affairs "the road to nowhere." According to the ambassador, culture brings people together and creates opportunities for interaction in other areas.
The diplomat criticized publications in the American media that Russian culture is the "Kremlin tool" for "manipulating public opinion in the United States." Anatoly Antonov expressed the hope that the United States will not ban the books of Russian writers and the works of Russian composers, as well as other masterpieces of Russian culture.
Russkiy Mir
