MOSCOW (Combined report: AP, RIA Novosti) - Russia had to postpone the military orchestras festival scheduled for this weekend after British authorities banned 40 bagpipers from attending the event.
The British Foreign Office has decided not to send 40 bagpipers to the Kremlin Reveille festival in Moscow in protest over Russia's actions in Georgia, a foreign office spokesperson has said.
The festival to mark the 325th anniversary of the Russian Imperial Guards was scheduled to take place on September 11-14 in central Moscow.
Military bands from the U.K., Austria, Ireland, Scotland, and Canada have been invited to the event. The Scottish bagpipers were due to leave for Russia on September 8.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said on Friday however that the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers would not be able to attend the Kremlin Zorya festival due to the crisis in relations between Russia and the West over the recent war in Georgia. The spokesperson also called the move a demonstration that it's not "business as usual" between Britain and Russia.
The bagpipers have been one of the most popular acts at the festival in recent years.
Brigadier Mel Jameson, former head of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, helped found the Kremlin Zorya. He said the action "just shows that music apparently does not cross all boundaries."
On Wednesday Russian organizers of the festival said the event would be postponed till the next year. Their decision was motivated by the tense situation in foreign politics which caused foreign orchestras to cancel their visits to Moscow or not to confirm the previously announced participation. Also on Wednesday it was reported that 20 Canadian bagpipers decided not to go to Russia despite previous agreements.
Vitaly Mironov, the Russian director of the Kremlin Reveille foundation has told reporters that he saw the British decision on bagpipers as purely political.
On August 26, Russia recognized breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. The decision was made after a major military operation during which Russian army repelled the Georgian attack aimed at reclaiming South Ossetia. Both republics broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s.
