MOSCOW, November 17 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Foreign Ministry hailed the Swiss government's decision Thursday to release the Pushkin Museum paintings that had been impounded in Switzerland Wednesday.
"This decision, in accordance with the norms of international law, was motivated by the desire not to aggravate Russian-Swiss interstate relations following the hasty and...flawed actions by judicial authorities of [the southern Swiss] canton of Valais," the ministry said.
"Moscow highly values the constructive position of the Swiss Foreign Ministry, which played a decisive role in settling the incident," the ministry said.
The $1-billion collection of paintings from Moscow's Pushkin Fine Arts Museum left Geneva Thursday and will pass through Germany on its way to Russia. The collection was impounded at the request of Swiss trading company Noga, which is involved in a long-running dispute with Russia.
