Dear Mr. Secretary:

Recently Alexander Vershbow, who previously was head of the Soviet Office of the U.S. Department of State. was appointed to the post of United States Ambassador to Russia. It was Alexander Vershbow who, fourteen years ago, stood at the source of the entire problem of "Picturegate," spreading disinformation and complicating the simple question connected with the gift of art to the American people of Alexander Zhdanov (64), an artist who was deported from Moscow. From a recent statement of former Cultural Attache Gregory Guroff, it is clear that the General Counsel in Moscow in 1987, Max Robinson, also engaged in this disinformation.

The facts and matter of "Picturegate" are well-documented.

The United States Department of State has not presented to Congress or to the artist himself their protocols of discovery in this case, in spite of repeated requests from the injured party.

We insist on an immediate and lawful resolution to the matter of "Picturegate".

Alexander Vershbow must now:

• Collect the 1,500 works of art abandoned in Moscow;
  
  
• Bring the artworks to Washington, DC;
  
  
• Return the artworks to the artist personally; and
  
  
• Compensate the artist for his losses.