Russia should be blocked from hosting a major United Nations cultural conference this summer due to its invasion of Ukraine, the UK government has said.
Unesco’s annual event, at which the list of World Heritage Sites is approved, is due to be hosted in Kazan, Russia in June, despite worldwide condemnation of its military incursion into Ukraine.
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said it was “inconceivable” that the Unesco conference could be held in Russia and said the UK would boycott the event unless it was moved to another country.
There is evidence that Vladimir Putin’s forces are in breach of the UN convention on the protection of cultural property during armed conflict, which Unesco is supposed to uphold.
On Sunday Russian forces destroyed a local history museum, containing 25 artworks by the world-renowned Ukrainian folk artist Maria Prymachenko, in a town near Kyiv, while experts have expressed concern that archives containing historically important records from Tsarist Russia and the Soviet regime are also at risk from the escalating military action.
The Ivankiv…
