"Sometimes we can see excessive politicization. We have always had good relations with Great Britain and it is necessary to maintain them without forgetting that there exists legislation that it is necessary to observe," Piotrovsky told journalists on Thursday evening concerning the problems of holding an exhibition in London.

"Everything will be fine, we have a month. We are holding talks w

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ith the heirs of the owners of the cultural values currently belonging to Russia and kept in Russian museums," Piotrovsky said.

Piotrovsky recalled that heirs of collectors Shchukin and Morozov could file suits against the Hermitage Museum or the Museum of Fine Arts Pushkin Museum demanding the seizure of the paintings by Henri Matisse that earlier belonged to these collectors.

In addition, suits against Russian government from private firms that might say they are "victims of relations with Russia" are also possible, he said.

"The letter of the law that Great Britain should take must contain the word - 'guarantee,'" Piotrovsky said.

According to earlier reports, the exhibition of paintings from the Hermitage, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts called "From Russia: French and Russian Masterpieces of Painting of 1870-1925" was slated to open in London on January 26.

Russia's Federal agency for culture and cinematography (Roskultura) told Interfax on Thursday that paintings exhibited in Dusseldorf and intended for a London exposition will shortly go back to Russia.

Roskultura said that Roskultura head Mikhail Shvydkoi sent letters to State Secretary for Culture, Mass Media and Sport James Purnell and British Ambassador to Russia Antony Brenton "with information on the impossibility of the exhibition if there are no guarantees of return of the exhibits."

ST. PETERSBURG. Dec 20 (Interfax)