In a story that did not seem like it could get any more unusual, the long-running Chabad library dispute in Washington, DC that has resulted in a Russian fine art loan embargo for nearly a year took a maritime turn in San Francisco this weekend. At the last minute, a sailing ship named the Nadezhda that was headed to San Francisco on a goodwill tour stopped short of entering the port. It anchored just outside the Golden Gate and awaited a pilot to guide it in. When the pilot headed out, a message was received that the Russian ship would not be docking, and it headed for Mexico.
After some initial confusion, the Russian Consul General Vladimir Vinokurov confirmed that the about-face was the result of the Chabad library lawsuit, and that Russia was concerned that the ship itself might be seized to satisfy the pending judgment.
It seems relatively clear that communication between the antagonists is as strained as it has ever been. Notwithstanding the Chabad plaintiffs’ recent olive branch, whoever is making the decisions in Russia is clearly leery of U.S. seizure, no matter what the plaintiffs or the United States government say. And, given the odd sequence of timing and detailed plans for the ship once it was to have been here, it is not entirely clear that there is any unitary decision-making on the defendants’ part.
It is getting very hard to see an end to the impasse.
