The Russian government said today it will issue permission for nearly 120 paintings to travel to London in time for an exhibition that opens on Jan. 26, 2008. Russian authorities had canceled the exhibition on Dec. 19, saying the U.K. didn't offer guarantees that Moscow wanted to protect the pictures against confiscation. Addressing that issue, yesterday the U.K. government put into effect a law to protect artworks loaned from abroad against third-party seizure. "From Russia: French and Russian Masterpieces, 1870-1925" is currently at Dusseldorf's Museum Kunst Palast until Jan. 6, 2008, sponsored by E.ON AG, Germany's biggest utility. It is then scheduled to move to the Royal Academy of Arts in London. "Now that this law has been passed, the Federal Service will issue temporary travel permission," said Anatoly Vilkov, deputy director of the Federal Service for Cultural Protection, in an interview with Radio Echo Moskvy. The new law is "satisfactory, and protects our interests. We are convinced that Russian cultural valuables will be protected on the territory of Great Britain from third party lawsuits," Vilkov said. The U.K. has enacted the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 that protects cultural objects borrowed from overseas. Russia doesn't want a repeat of events in November 2005, when Swiss customs officials impounded 54 French impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces from Moscow's Pushkin Museum. The State Hermitage Museum and the Pushkin are among four Russian museums that have lent paintings to the new show, by 20th- century French and Russian artists such as Cezanne, Gauguin, Matisse, Kandinsky and Malevich. Strained Relations Diplomatic relations between Russia and the U.K. are strained over the radioactive poisoning murder of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko in November 2006. Russia has refused to hand over Andrei Lugovoi, another ex-KGB agent, whom U.K. prosecutors want to put on trial for the murder. Lugovoi was voted into the Russian parliament, the State Duma, in December. On Dec. 12, Russia announced it was closing down the regional offices of the British Council, which functions as the cultural center for the U.K. abroad.