Russia Promised Thesaurus Return Committee Reunion - Romanian FM

The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed regret that the Russian side failed to issue adequate information on the bilateral obligations connected to issues derived from the common history of Romania and Russia, drawing attention on the fact that, in reality, there are two distinct committees handling the issues derived from the history of bilateral relations.

"On the one hand there is a Joint Committee, of public interest, holding authority, composed of specialists in various areas, meant to study the issues deriving from the history of bilateral relations, including the issue of the Romanian Thesaurus. This committee was created on July 4, 2003. (…) The topic of the Romanian Thesaurus is clearly stated in the Declaration creating the Committee," said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release.

According to agreements between the two sides, the joint Committee is currently analyzing the Romanian Thesaurus issues, this being the primary topic of discussion for the members of the Committee, according to their decision.

The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also states that "within the meeting on February 27, in Moscow, held between the foreign affairs ministers of Romania and the Russian Federation, the Romanian minister asked his Russian counterpart to issue a political signal for the organization of a new reunion of the Committee managing exclusively the issue of the Romanian Thesaurus."

"The head of Russian diplomacy said he will contact the Russian co-president of the Committee, to honor the Romanian minister’s request," the press release reads.

According to the quoted document, on an academic level, there is another Romanian-Russian history committee, led by representatives of the academies in the two nations, which constitute a dialogue forum regarding the history of Romanian-Russian relations as a whole.

"Moreover, the retrocession of cultural assets is an international obligation of the Russian Federation, also found in the attention of the European Council. Thus, Opinion 193/1996 of the European Council Parliamentary Assembly (...) states the need to negotiate the requests for the return of cultural property with European states, on ad hoc bases depending on the types of property (archives, artwork, buildings, etc.) and on the holders (public, private or institutional,” the document concludes.

The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued this reaction following a statement made by Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Andrei Nesterenko, according to which Russian diplomacy chief Sergey Lavrov has not discussed the resumption of negotiations on the return of the Romanian Thesaurus with his Romanian counterpart.

Nesterenko said Romanian-Russian negotiations unfolded on February 17 did not involve the resumption of negotiations on the Romanian Thesaurus, but they referred to the revival of activity in a joint committee meant to study issues in bilateral relations, according to the Novaia Politika website.

 

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