this arts and cultural centre in bloomsbury in central london has long maintained its independence from the russian government, and now, even more so. the centre's director, elena, says they have long supported opposition voices in russia and now they are rethinking their events programme to show solidarity with ukraine. being a russian speaker does not equate to supporting putin's war. and there are very many different russian communities here in london and all of them come from different backgrounds and have very different opinions and different points of view, but i think we all stand united against this war. it is very dark times for us. we condemn russian military aggression and we stand with ukraine. this war should not have happened in the 21st century. the most recent exhibition explored russian queer identity, and the curator says russians living abroad must continue to use their freedoms as a platform for activism.