The Director of Tate Modern gallery, Sir Nicholas Serota, said he is ‘learning Russian fast’ in the hope that philanthropists from the former Soviet Union will help with the cost of building an extension to the famous museum.

The new wing will increase the gallery’s floor space by 60 per cent. The Guardian newspaper reports it’s to be finished in time for the 2012 Olympics in London.

But if funds aren’t found fast, it may still be a building site by then. Architects Herzog and de Meuron predict the project will cost $US 430 million. Since the building plans were revealed in 2006, about $US 140 million has been raised, including a $US 100 million grant from the UK government.

But with the global economy slowing down, Serota admits fund raising is becoming more challenging.

The super-wealthy businessmen from the East are seen as a new and lucrative source for the Tate Modern and other UK museums, the Guardian says.

By 2008 Russia had invested almost $US 1 billion into the British economy with almost 70 per cent of that in the form of direct investment, according to the Russian trade delegation in the UK.

Britain is the sixth most attractive investment destination for Russian businesses.