In the ever-widening ramifications of the Brooklyn-based Jewish sect Chabad's attempts to obtain a library and archive from Russia, the brawl is spreading from a private party's lawsuit -- and resulting in $50,000/day court-ordered sanctions against Russia -- to an intergovernmental one of Russia vs. the U.S.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has recommended that its Culture Ministry and Russian State Library sue the Library of Congress demanding the return of seven books the Russian State Library sent in 1994 to the LOC for the use of Chabad that have not been sent back. The idea behind the threatened lawsuit -- to be brought in Russia -- is payback for the sanctions in Chabad's own ongoing suit, according to Moscow's state-run press.
Chabad's suit against Russia triggered Russia's more than two-year-old embargo on lending art to U.S. museums. Read more in my latest article in The Art Newspaper.
Text (c) Copyright 2013 Laura Gilbert
