More than three months on, the ramifications from Putin’s invasion are still being felt across the globe. Sanctions, protests, boycotts – couldn’t happen to a nicer despot. One minor consequence in England though has been the demise of Coventry council’s twin city relationship with Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad. The Labour-run authority temporarily cut ties with the city in March, announcing a pause in twinning links ‘with a heavy heart… until such a time that they can resume.’
Now, a Freedom of Information request has discovered that the council spent more than £12,000 in the past five years on the ultimately doomed relationship. Funds were spent on four separate events, including a £3,478 visit to the city in February 2018 to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad at which Putin told the assembled audience ‘We have no right to let them down, to demonstrate cowardice or indecisiveness. In our actions, we must rise to the level of the achievements of our fathers and grandfathers.’
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