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As the role of Russian hackers in the US presidential election comes under scrutiny, a bill protecting works of art on loan to the US from foreign institutions from seizure was passed by the Senate on Saturday, 10 December and is now waiting to be signed into law by President Obama. The legislation could end a years-long cultural cold war with Russia, which has refused to loan works since 2010 due to lawsuits filed in the US over objects seized during the Bolshevik Revolution.The bill was firmly backed by the US Association of Art Museum Directors, whose director Christine Anagnos said: “The exchange of works of art between countries supports cultural understanding and enables Americans to experience works that they otherwise might never have a chance to see in person.” Following a visit by Mikhail Piotrovsky, the director of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, to the US in October, the museum posted on its website that the bill’s passage “will make it possible to restore museum exchanges between the countries”.

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