Chubais, who was in Washington last week for the International Monetary Fund summit, discussed the dispute with U.S. Vice President Al Gore, the daily Segodnya reported Tuesday. After receiving "authoritative assurances as to the security of the exhibition from the American side," Chubais gave personal authorization for the exhibition to continue its scheduled tour to Houston, Texas -- and possibly to Memphis, Tennessee, and San Diego, California.
Chubais effectively overruled a demand for the exhibit's return issued in mid-April by Russia's Culture Ministry. The ministry had claimed that the exhibits were needed in Moscow as part of the city's 850th anniversary celebrations in September.
Chubais' press office could not confirm or deny his involvement, and the Culture Ministry would not comment.
The Washington Post reported that the tour was allowed to continue after the contract was renegotiated, with the Russian side demanding 65 percent of ticket revenue as opposed to the 50 percent stipulated in the original deal.
Concerns from the exhibition's backers, the Russian-American Cooperation Foundation, that $400,000 paid to lease the exhibits from their Russian home museums might have gone astray have been addressed by Mikhail Gusman, of the exhibition's organizing committee.
Gusman was quoted by Segodnya as saying that $370,000 had been received by the Russian side and would be distributed to the relevant museums.
The exhibition, valued at $100 million, is hugely popular and attracted more than 80,000 visitors during its 10 weeks at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in Washington.
The exhibition, which includes an egg-sized ruby and a 260-carat sapphire, was prevented from leaving Washington on April 17 by Russian Embassy officials, who blocked a moving van containing the jewels with their cars.
Since then, the battle to allow the exhibit to proceed to Houston has drawn in Russian Deputy Culture Minster Mikhail Shvidkoi, former deputy prime minister Vitaly Ignatenko, prominent Texans George Bush and heart surgeon Michael DeBakey -- not to mention Gore and Chubais.
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