Russian art show opens amid row

By Mike Collett-White

LONDON (Reuters) - The Royal Academy unveiled a blockbuster exhibition of paintings from Russian galleries on Tuesday, relieved the show will go on despite an ongoing row over ownership of priceless art that threatened to derail it.

"From Russia" also comes at a time of strained diplomatic and cultural relations between Russia and Britain, and curators hope the exhibition, expected to be seen by hundreds of thousands of people, will help improve ties.

"We have to collaborate in order to survive, particularly in the cultural field," curator Norman Rosenthal told Reuters at the show, which explores cultural exchanges between Russia and western Europe between 1870 and 1925.

Earlier this month, Russia forced Britain's cultural centres in two Russian cities to halt operations, and Britain accused Russia of resorting to Cold War tactics.

Britain and Russia, linked in investments worth billions of dollars, have been at odds since the 2006 murder of Alexander Litvinenko, poisoned in London with a rare radioactive material.

The descendants of two great Russian collectors whose works were taken by the state shortly after the 1917 revolution, and which appear in "From Russia", were in London to highlight their case, which involves art worth billions of dollars.

"We are demanding a legal settlement in recognition of the labour and genius of my grandfather, a normal, negotiated compensation for the families," said Andre-Marc Delocque-Fourcaud, grandson of collector Sergei Shchukin.

The 66-year-old, who lives in France, told Reuters that his grandfather's collection of 258 paintings was valued "conservatively" at $3 billion (1.5 billion pounds) 10 years ago, and was worth at least twice that today.