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Hungary unperturbed by Russian 'storage fee' for rare books

Feb 16, 2006, 17:20 GMT

Budapest - Hungary's foreign ministry on Thursday said that it had no choice but to pay a 400,000-dollar 'storage fee' to Russia for the return of rare books that Soviet forces looted from Hungary after World War Two. 'Russian law states that if something is to be returned, the cost of storage has to be paid,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Viktor Polgar told Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa. 'We need to respect Russian law.' Hungary in 2002 asked Russia to return the rare and valuable books, which Soviet forces took from the Sarospatak Calvinist College library and held onto for over 50 years. Hungary will now have to pay the money to Russia's Nizhny Novgorod Lenin Library to cover the cost of looking after the books. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law authorizing the return of the books, and they will be officially handed back during Putin's visit to Hungary in late February. The 134 volumes, which Russia's Culture Ministry said were 'cultural treasures with unique character and historical and scientific importance,' will go in display in Hungary's national museum before being returned to the college. © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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WaitzenFeb 20th, 2006 - 08:39:53

No wonder the Russians are hated everywhere.

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zedMar 14th, 2006 - 23:21:07

May I remind you that PEOPLE are hated everywhere, not just Russians. Besides it looks like 'West' opens their mouths immediately when the Russians simply apply western rules to westerners..

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Hungary unperturbed by Russian 'storage fee' for rare books

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