Dealer buys Voltaire letters for mystery Russian

MOSCOW, June 1 (Reuters) A Russian art dealer bought 26 letters written by French philosopher and satirist Voltaire to Catherine the Great for a mystery buyer, a local paper reported today.

Alexander Khochinsky, a Moscow art dealer, told the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper that he bought the letters for 583,200 euros (750,800 dollar) at a Sotheby's auction in Paris.

He declined to comment when asked if he had bought the letters at the request of a Russian state official, the paper said. But he said the letters would be returned to Russia.

Born as an obscure German princess, Catherine (1729-1796) draped herself in the silks of the Enlightenment while emperor of Russia.

She corresponded for years with Voltaire, who is seen as one of the principal thinkers of the Enlightenment.

Khochinsky, who faced tough competition at bidding from an unknown collector in the United States, said the letters contained previously unstudied texts.

''The letters contain texts completely unknown to researchers,'' Khochinsky told the paper. ''They have been published nowhere.'' Voltaire, a famous wit who often offended the influential with his satire, won the respect of Catherine, who cultivated his fame inside Russia.

Russian businessmen, many of whom made fortunes in the chaos that followed the fall of the Soviet Union, have been buying up treasures around the world, often returning them to Russia to the approval of the Kremlin.

Oil and metals tycoon Viktor Vekselberg paid millions of dollars for a collection of Faberge eggs, which he returned to Russia in 2004 and put on exhibition.

REUTERS AD ND1440