GENEVA, November 17 (RIA Novosti, Yekaterina Andrianova) - A Russian museum's $1-billion artwork collection that was arrested in Switzerland at the request of Swiss trading company Noga will leave Switzerland for Russia in a couple of hours, a Russian diplomat said Thursday.
Dmitry Mezhaurov, Russia's consul-general to Geneva, said the paintings were being loaded onto the fourth and final truck at a storehouse in Geneva. The exact time of the departure remains unclear as the relevant documents are still to be signed.
Mezhaurov refused to elaborate on the route the trucks would follow, saying it was confidential information and citing the collection's insurance value of over $1 billion. He said the trucks would be escorted to the French border.
Customs authorities in Basel and Geneva arrested four trucks Wednesday carrying 55 paintings by famous artists, including Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Van Gogh, from Moscow's Pushkin Fine Arts Museum as they were returning the paintings to Russia after an exhibition in Martigny, in the southern Swiss canton of Valais.
Later in the day the Swiss government held a special session to discuss the arrest and gave its permission for the arrested paintings to be returned to Russia.
Noga had been suing the Russian government for damages in connection with the early termination of 1990-92 trade agreements on the supply of food and fertilizers in exchange for oil derivatives.
In February 1997, the Stockholm International Arbitration Court ruled that Russia should pay Noga $23 million in damages, on terms providing for rescheduling.
All creditors of the former Soviet Union have accepted the debt rescheduling terms, except for Noga, which demanded that the money be repaid immediately in one lump sum. But Russian Finance Ministry officials have said the international principle of equality does not allow for exceptions for any of the creditors.
In 2000, Noga prompted French authorities to freeze the accounts of Russia's Central Bank and arrest a Russian sail ship. In 2001, it attempted to impound Russian military planes at the Le Bourget air show outside Paris.
