Dear Senator Helms:
In 1989 and 1990 you personally helped me shake loose from the American Embassy in Moscow the documents of deed and catalogues of the 1,500 works of art which I had given to America from 1984 through 1987, at a time when both I and my work were being destroyed in the Soviet Union. I want to thank you for that help.
Your office's assistance unexpectedly ended when your aide who was handling the matter, Mr. Bruce Ricerson, took another position. Other staff, beginning with Ms. Kathleen Train and Mr. James Lucier and ending with Ms. Frances Marcus, declined to pass on my letters to you asking about petitioning the President's help and a personal meeting with you:
* The State Department's Mr. Glassman, in confirming the list of important artifacts among the Moscow documents - including the originals and copies of the documents of deed and catalogues in question - neglected to notice the yellowed final copies of the documents of deed, which were received from me in Moscow on Nov. 30, 1987, by Ms. jean McKinzie from the consulate there and presented to the U.S. State Department commission in late 1988;
* Ms. Train's assistance ceased after she had a series of lunches with Mr. Glassman and was offered another position;
* Mr. Lucier refused me an appointment with you when he saw how upset I was by Ms. Train's behavior, after she had dragged the time out from the two to three weeks promised to a full seven months and cut off my efforts to petition the President through you.
I strongly regret that, due to my lack of English, I hesitated in speaking with you personally on this matter back in 1990, when we met briefly as you were leaving the Senate chambers.
Since that time, only the third President I have addressed with this problem - Bill Clinton and the
third director of the Russian Relations Office at the State Department - John Herbst have finally responded to the heart of this matter and broken through the years of disinformation put out by Alexander Vershbow, Larry Napper, and Janet Mullins:
* The disinformation by the State Department about this matter from 1988 through 1994 has turned the simple question of my gift to America into a criminal affair: "Picturegate"; and
* The State Department's letter of December 9, 1994 puts the whole affair up a blind alley: it is unrealistic to try and retrieve the 1,500 works of art from Moscow after seven years, and yet to pursue the matter beyond seven years is not legal.
In late 1993 Senator Robb passed on to me the State Department's "protocol of investigation" which, without the proper official registration, cannot be an official document.
* And, as a result, the most serious consequences and traumas have been caused, in an effort to wipe from the face of the earth a freedom-loving artist, whom they had been unable to destroy in the 50 years of his Soviet reality.
- America's and my intellectual property, protected, by law, has been lost.
- Even while I yet live. my lawful rights as author to that which I have created have been lost.
- Before the eyes of the whole world the spiritual inheritance of a generation is being unlawfully destroyed, in spite of the fact that civilization long ago has stamped such acts as barbarism, fascism, vandalism - and yet here we stand on the threshold of the Ernst century!
- My material well-being has been undermined, my free life and artistic profession have been
undermined, and the health of a man who was tortured in the Soviet Union has been undermined.
The law protects life and profession and health!
- The guilty parties remain unpunished.
- The losses I have suffered remain uncompensated.
- America's authority as an independent super-power standing in opposition to the evils of the Soviet Union has been undermined.
Seven years have passed since November 30, 1987, the day I was deported from the Soviet Union with
my wife, whose leg was still broken at the hands of the KGB. In those seven years I have exhausted all
possible legal means to save my work which I had given to America and to defend my rights. Exhaustive
material has been collected. I have suffered a heavy loss, in property and in rights.
I have not perished. thanks to the support of Congress and President Clinton.
The support of two senators from the Foreign Relations Committee has played a particularly important role:
- The fact of my gift to America was confirmed by the documents of deed and the catalogues delivered from the American embassy in Moscow by Mr. Glassman of your office at the request of Sen. Helms in late 1988;
- The fact of the prolonged disinformation and violation of the freedom of information law was confirmed by a copy of the Transmittal Form, Executive Secretariat, Department of State, S/S 9 308 948, sent to the National Security Council Staff of the White House and passed on to me by Sen. Robb in late 1993.
The fact of President Clinton's willingness to pursue "Picturegate" was confirmed by you yourself, Mr. Herbst, in your letter to me at the end of 1994.
The principal culpability for the crime committed against me and my gift to America lies with the Reagan-Bush-Baker-Quayle Administration and with the following government officials occupying posts between 1984 and 1994:
- Mr. Gregory Guroff, Mr. John Barley, and Mr. Arthur Hartman;
- Mr. Max Robinson, Ms. jean McKenzie, and Mr. Jack Matlock;
- Mr. Alexander Vershbow, Mr. Larry Napper, Mr. Glassman, and Mr. John Taft;
- Mr. Edward Fox and Nis. Janet Mullins.
I have been 'petitioning the executive, legislative, and judicial authorities in America in defense of my rights and my property for many years now:
* America and Russia have officially recognized the artistic significance of my work, the tragedy of the loss of my intellectual property and author's rights, and the legal culpability of the U.S. State Department for the evil that has been perpetrated upon me over the past decade (the Washington
Post. Vestnik, Fine Arts& Artists, etc.);
* The theft of the 1,500 works of art in Moscow and the loss of my rights were abetted by the irresponsibility of a string of State Department officials, from Gregory Guroff and Max Robinson through Alexander Vershbow, Larry Napper, and Janet Mullins;
* Deported from the Soviet Union with my wife, I gained my freedom but lost the entire body of my life's work in art, created over 50 years of professional labor, and in America I stand robbed, without material support and without rights, which has placed in threat not only my life but my work.
| As a lawful resolution to the problem of
"Picturegate," I await an apology from the United States Department of State and full monetary compensation for all losses incurred; however, judging by the sad experience of the past years, I cannot hope for a quick and just resolution, and therefore am turning to you and the Senate for support. |
All of the State Department's pro forma responses to my petition to President Clinton of February, 1993 - including those of Mr. Napper in May, 1994, Mr. Herbst in December, 1994, and Mr. Lindquist in January, 1995, - have continued the endless disinformation. The State Department continues, as before, to duck its responsibility for the wrong it has wrought.
.In accordance with the Constitution of the United States, I am requesting you seek impeachment of the State Department officials who are guilty in "Picturegate." Exhaustive materials on this matter have been distributed to members of the Foreign Relations Committee since October, 1992.
Perhaps a more desirable alternative to impeachment as a means of influencing the State Department to rectify this problem and compensate for all losses, after seven years of disinforming Congress and allowing my gift of 1,500 works of art to be lost - a gift to the American
people and the American government, not to those individuals who constitute "Picturegate" would be your possible introduction of a bill to that effect.
Dear Senator Helms! You understand that true art, like beauty, is a spiritual need, a graphic perception of the world, that it exists objectively, and that America cannot ignore this and stiff maintain its international image as a progressive and just country whose obligations lie not in the destruction of an artist and his work but in the defending and encouraging of a benefactor and his legacy.
I ask that you please name a time when we could meet to the material on the problem of "Picturegate" and the possibility of your personally addressing this matter to the President.
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