Andrei Rublev under threat of arrest in the U.S.

[Dogel]

American Museum of the City Clinton refused to immediately return to Russia 37 icons from the collections of the Central Museum of Ancient Culture and Art of Andrei Rublev. There is a threat of arrest of these icons in the USA.

Late last week the Ministry of Culture of Russia demanded from the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Massachusetts, to dismantle forthwith the exhibition of icons and return it to Russia. This exhibition of 37 icons and other artifacts from the Moscow Museum of Andrei Rublev is located in Clinton last October. It was assumed that the exposition will run until July 25. But lately, the situation worsened with the Russian-American cultural exchanges, associated with the so-called library Schneerson. Recall: a collection of 12,000 books and 50,000 manuscripts that Hasidic rabbi from the village of Lubavitch today Smolensk Oblast Joseph Isaac Schneerson and his descendants were collected from the end of XVIII and the beginning of XX century. As a result of two world wars and revolutions, this collection came to the Russian State Library and the Russian State Military Archive. But American Hasidim - one of the streams of Judaism - in August 2010 after years of litigation made by the Washington court decision, asserting their right to a historical relic. The Russian Foreign Ministry saw this as "a flagrant violation of universally accepted norms and principles in international law."

Conflict situation is virtually stalled US-Russian cultural relations. Our museum workers have ceased to send their exhibits to the United States, fearing for their arrest as a response from the American justice system. It remained only to decide to withdraw the already operating in America, our exhibition, which was done by Ministry of Culture of Russia. But yesterday, the museum founder Gordon Lankton and its director, Kent Russell refused to return the icons, arguing that there is no force majeure. They can be understood: premature closing of the exhibition would bring them huge losses.

Among the exposed America's icons, there are "Life-Giving Trinity" - not the world-famous Rublev icon is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery, but one of her listings. Yet why, knowing the situation with the Hasidim, the Museum of icons Rublev dared to send to America? Unfortunately, at the Museum "labor" in a harsh manner refused comment.
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Mikhail Shvydkoi, envoy of Russian President:

- The decision of the U.S. court on the rights of the community "Agudas Chabad Chassidim" on the library Schneerson Russia considers null and void. My colleagues from the Ministry of Culture, had reason to release the show in America. But now the hype has arisen may provoke new acts of the community "Agudas Chabad Chassidim" and we do not know how to behave with the American legal system. Not even for the U.S. State Department here may not be enough. Therefore be more likely to return these items to Russia.

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