MOSCOW, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. court's ruling to fine Russia for failing to obey the earlier court verdict is absolutely illegal and provocative, Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
District court in Washington, D.C. Wednesday made a decision to fine Russia for not complying with its previous ruling made in 2010, which ordered Russia to hand over to a U.S. Jewish community a collection of books and manuscripts known as Schneerson Library. Some of the artifacts are up to 500 years old.
Russia dismissed the ruling as "odious."
"We have repeatedly said that verdict has an extra-territorial nature, contradicts international law and is judicially void," the ministry said in a statement.
Moscow said that the Schneerson Library, which has been historically collected in the Russian territory, belongs to the Russian people as a state property.
Moscow is shocked by the U.S. court's ruling, the ministry added.
"The move imposing fines on a sovereign state is unprecedented and fraught with very grave consequences. We hope the U.S. authorities understand that if Russian state property will be seized in the U.S., we will have to retaliate tough," it said.
According to the ruling made by Chief Judge Royce Lamberth, Russia must pay Chabad-Lubavitch, an Orthodox Jewish group, a fine of 50,000 U.S. dollars per day until Moscow returns the collection to Chabad which claims it as its own.
Last September, U.S. Department of Justice opposed Chabad's bid, citing that judicial sanctions against Russia in this case would be contrary to U.S. foreign policy interests and inconsistent with U.S. law.
'Collective children's weddings' held in kindergarten
Feedback
RSS
