Plans for the German chancellor and the Russian president to jointly open an exhibition at St Petersburg's Hermitage museum tonight have been cancelled by the Russian government because Mrs Merkel planned to call for the return of the artefacts in her speech.
One of the highlights of the exhibition is a hoard of 81 gold pieces including gold plate, rings and ornate bowls that has never been seen in public since the end of the war.
The Eberswalde Hoard, discovered during an excavation north-east of Berlin in 1913, was removed from a museum in the German capital by Soviet troops and transported to Moscow as war booty.
German government spokesman Georg Streiter said Mrs 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.
The spokesman said Russia had cancelled the opening speeches by the two leaders, blaming a lack of time. » | Jeevan Vasagar, Berlin | Friday, June 21, 2013
