GENEVA, November 16 (RIA Novosti) - The Swiss government has given its permission for the arrested paintings from the Moscow-based Pushkin Fine Arts Museum to be returned to Russia, the Russian embassy said Wednesday.
"In fact, the Swiss government has lifted the arrest but has not forwarded written permission to the Russian embassy. We are expecting this in an hour," an embassy official said.
The Swiss government held a special session to discuss the arrest of the $1-billion artwork collection. It was seized earlier on Wednesday at the request of Swiss trading company Noga as part of a long-standing legal dispute with the Russian government over contractual obligations.
