Russian President Vladimir Putin says he considers a dispute with the United States over an archive of Jewish manuscripts to be a dead issue. A U.S. judge in January ordered that Russia pay $50,000 a day until it turns over the so-called Schneerson Collection of books and documents to Chabad Lubavitch, a Hasidic movement within Orthodox Judaism headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. Russia, however, has claimed the collection is state property and Putin has been adamant that the texts are part of Russian heritage and will not leave Russia. On Thursday, Putin visited the state library branch at the Jewish Museum in Moscow where some of the books are held and said, "From this moment, I consider the question of the Schneerson library to be closed." In March, the Jewish Telegraph Agency reported that Russian Deputy Culture Minister Grigory Ivliyev said the disputed Schneerson library would be moved to the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center. "We intend to use the opportunities of the Jewish Museum and the Tolerance Center for displaying books from the Schneerson library," Ivliyev said. We are digitizing and restoring the books and are preparing them for broader use.
