Nadine Dorries, Secretary of State at DCMS, made a statement on Thursday 3 March 2022 on isolating Russia through sports and the arts. You can find her statement here.
SOLT & UK Theatre have been part of several meetings with DCMS ministers and officials to discuss the situation. Our advice for theatres and performing arts organisations, drawn from those meetings, is that collaborations with Russian or Belarussian state or state-backed companies, or UK tours by Russian or Belarussian state or state-backed companies, are not appropriate. We anticipate this being the situation for at least 12 months.
The current government position on sanctions and restrictions is that they are targeted at the Putin & Lukashenko governments rather than the Russian or Belarussian people. Therefore, we are not advising any change in status for individual freelancers or performers from those nations. However, it should be noted that there will likely be longer lead times in visa processing, the potential for visa refusals to Russian or Belarussian individuals, and travel restrictions in place between the UK and Russia/Belarus.
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