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YUST Represents the Russian Public Library and Ministry of Culture on Demand of Rare Books from USA

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The YUST law firm has represented the Russian Public Library (RPL) and the Russian Ministry of Culture in their claim against the United States for return of 7 books from the rare Schneerson Collection to Russia.

According to YUST, the Moscow Court of Arbitration "concluded the consideration of the case on May 22 of 2014 and declared the operative part of the judgment, which upheld the claim by the Russian Public Library and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation to oblige the respondents to return to the RPL 7 books from the so-called Schneerson Collection."

A statement on the YUST website claims that in January 1994, pursuant to a formal request by the American Library of Congress, the RPL sent 7 books from the Schneerson Collection for temporary use within the scope of international exchange of library funds. The initial agreement between the two was for 60 days, but the books were not returned to Russia. The RPL officially notified the Library of Congress of the need to return the books in March of 2013, but the notification was ignored. After that, the RPL and the Ministry of Culture or Russia (which exercises the powers of the books’ owner on behalf of Russia) filed the above-stated claim with the Court.

In ruling that the books must be returned to Russia, the Moscow Court of Arbitration also declared that the United States must pay daily damages of USD 50,000 for non-conformance with its ruling, an award YUST described as "one of the first of its kind in the Russian arbitration practice." 

The parties now have one month to appeal the judgment before it become final and binding.

YUST Senior Partner Yury Pilipenko, Managing Partner Evgeny Zhilin, Partner Alexander Yevdokimov, and Advocate Mikhail Chugunov represented the Russian Public Library and the Ministry of Culture.

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