Diplomats pick up brushes

Ambassadors to Russia from all over the world have put aside matters of state and put their paint brushes to use instead.

The event was held by the International Women’s Club of Moscow, a group that organizes cultural events to collect money for charity.

The program includes two auctions: one for the paintings produced by the ambassadors themselves, and a silent one for the works of the International Women’s Club members.

The money will be passed over to a wide range of charities, from orphanages and soup kitchens to hospitals.

“This has been a wonderful experience,” Mexican Ambassador Alfredo Perez Bravo told RT. “The whole idea came from my wife, who is a president of the International Women’s Club. She told me about it and then asked me to be one of the painters. I said that during the last 25 years I hadn’t been painting. I’ve been speaking, not painting! But she said, ‘Don’t worry. You can do it.’ At the end of the day, when I saw the paintings altogether, I thought they are not bad. I think that we, ambassadors, can do lots of things to help the local communities. I’m really happy to be part of that.”