The glittering glories of Russia’s Hermitage Museum were shadowed on Friday by tensions between Russia and Germany over a new exhibit including objects looted by Red Army soldiers after they overran the Nazis.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, visiting the opening of the exhibition with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said pointedly that some of the items on display had been brought from Germany and “it gives us great happiness that we can see all of them today.”
“We will continue dialogue on all questions regarding valuables brought from Germany,” she added, according to the news agency Interfax.
MILDER REMARKS
The remarks may have been milder than she had originally intended.
Merkel had planned to use her speech at the opening of the exhibition to call for the return of the art in accordance with international law, German government spokesman Georg Streiter said.
Putin, at an earlier news conference with Merkel, hedged on the question of whether Russia would return art taken by the Soviets.
SENSITIVE QUESTION
“It’s a very sensitive question for the civil society of both sides, I think,” he said.
“Therefore, if we want to have some kind of movement forward, we shouldn’t inflate the problem, but search for some path to resolution,” he added.
“Now is hardly the time to open the discussion,” he said, because there are Russians who are resentful of damages inflicted during the war on Soviet art collections.
The Hermitage exhibition, called “The Bronze Age: A Europe Without Frontiers,” includes a renowned collection of prehistoric gold objects found in Brandenburg, Germany, in 1913.
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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