Queen Elizabeth won’t allow royal swords in Russian museum

Queen Elizabeth has retracted permission to allow three centuries old swords to be displayed at Russia’s Kremlin Museums in view of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to The Guardian, the 17th-century swords were earlier allowed to be loaned to the museums as part of an exhibition arranged by Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, who was sanctioned by the UK, EU and US earlier this month over his ties to Putin.

The publication also confirmed that permission to display the weapons was retracted as early as mid-February as Russian troops gathered on Ukraine’s border before invading it on February 24.

The move is the latest in an almost global cultural boycott of Russia, with several other European institutions also pulling out of exhibitions in Moscow.

The exhibition where the swords were to be showcased, titled The Duel: from Trial by Combat to a Noble Crime, was due to commence on March 4 but has since been ‘indefinitely delayed’.