National Railway Museum drops Russian exhibition over Ukraine invasion

The National Railway Museum in York has cancelled an exhibition over its Russian links.

The principal sponsor of the Trans-Siberian Railway exhibition was the state-owned Russian Railways Joint Stock Company.

It is one of a number of cultural events to be cancelled in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Science Museum Group director Sir Ian Blatchford has also returned a Russian cultural medal awarded to him in 2015.

He said: "In light of distressing events in Ukraine, we have decided not to proceed with our upcoming exhibition at the National Railway Museum and Science Museum, Trans-Siberian: The World's Longest Railway.

"I know I speak for all my colleagues in the Science Museum Group, when I say we stand united in opposition to this conflict and in support of all those impacted by Russia's invasion."

The exhibition, due to open later in March, had originally been due to take place in in 2021, but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It would have celebrated the railway, which runs 5,772 miles (9,290 km) from Moscow to Vladivostok and opened in 1916.

Objects for the show included items from the Moscow Kremlin Museums, the State Archives of the Russian Federation, Russian State Library, the State Hermitage Museum and the Central Museum of Railway Transport in St Petersburg.

Those included the famous Fabergé Easter egg known as The Great Siberian Railway, that contains a bejewelled model train, created for the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.

Sir Ian was awarded the Pushkin Medal in 2015 for his work on an earlier exhibition.

"I cannot keep a medal that was handed out in the name of the Russian state by Vladimir Putin, who is responsible for this war," he said.

"My enduring admiration for the Russian people themselves, and their cultural and scientific achievements, is undiminished."

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