MOSCOW, March 15 - RAPSI, Olga Lipich. Books from the so-called Yitzchok Schneerson collection will be handed over to Russian Hasids amid requests by Hasids in the United States to transfer the books into their possession instead, an official said on Thursday.

The disputed books will be registered with the Russian State Library, Presidential Commissioner for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoi said at the Moscow Jewish Center on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the rare books will be displayed at the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, where a library will open soon, he said, adding that some books are presently located in the Russian Military Archive, and this issue must also be addressed.

Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson was forced to leave the Soviet Union in 1927. He took his collection with him to Latvia and then Poland, where he left the books after Poland was attacked by Nazi Germany. The collection was taken to Germany and confiscated by the Red Army in 1945. Schneerson died in 1950 without leaving instructions regarding the collection.

On January 16, the US District Columbia Court ordered Russia to pay fines of $50,000 per day until it returns the books and manuscripts to American Hasids.

Russia's Foreign Ministry described the ruling as unlawful provocation, and asked the Culture Ministry and the State Library to fine the US Congressional Library for failing to return seven of Schneerson's books on loan to Washington since 1994.