Russia says Swiss seized priceless artworks

MOSCOW - Russian authorities alleged today priceless artworks from a Moscow museum had been impounded in Switzerland, apparently at the request of a Swiss firm that has long claimed repayment of debts from Russia.

A Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman declined immediate comment. A Geneva legal firm acting for the Swiss firm Noga, which has pursued Russia for what it has said are unpaid debts of some US$800 million ($1166.74 million) since at least 1993, also declined comment.

The collection includes paintings by masters Pablo Picasso, Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh and had been on show in the Swiss town of Martigny for five months.

Russian state television said the touring art collection from Moscow's Pushkin museum had been due to leave Switzerland but had been held up at the border.

"Lawyers and the Russian embassy in Switzerland are taking all necessary measures to solve the situation," a Moscow foreign ministry spokesman said.

Noga, a trading company, has in the past caused the temporary seizure of a ship, warplanes and diplomatic property in a series of bids to secure payment of debts linked to deals for the supply of food in exchange for oil in 1991-2. It has demanded immediate payment of $63 million.

Russian officials reacted angrily and all museums were told by the Federal Agency of Culture and Film, the owner of the pictures, to halt talks with Swiss organisations about sending exhibitions abroad.

"The arrest of the 54 pictures ... at the request of the company Noga is a gross violation of international law for the protection of cultural treasures," said the agency on its website (see link below).

"The agency ... has appealed to the Swiss authorities with a request to end the chaos surrounding these unique cultural artefacts." The director of the Pushkin Museum, Irina Antonova, warned the works could be damaged.

"The Swiss authorities have absolutely illegally taken passports and telephones from the workers who are escorting the exhibition," she told the state-owned First Channel.

She said the drivers of the trucks carrying the pictures had been forced to turn off the machines controlling the humidity and atmosphere around the artworks.

"The pictures in their boxes could be harmed by the changes that will inevitably take place in these trucks," she said.

Noga has secured court seizures in France, Sweden and Luxembourg but has never managed to gain the cash it says it is owed.

- REUTERS