[MSN] Antique thefts from Russia museums massive - interior ministry.

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Antique thefts from Russia museums massive - interior ministry

21.09.2006, 19.02

 
MOSCOW, September 21 (Itar-Tass) - Over 50,000 stolen antiques, including
35,000 icons, are on the search list in Russia, the deputy chief of the
Interior Ministry's Criminal Investigation Department, Yevgeny Yakovlev,
said. 

He told ITAR-TASS on Thursday that 700 of culture valuables were searched
through Interpol channels. 

The Interior Ministry's information and analysis centre has an automated
retrieval system Antiques that registers all stolen objects. 

This database processes each year thousands of inquiries and issues hundreds
of descriptions of searched valuables. 

Investigators fill a special form with the name and characteristics of an
object and this information is entered to the database that began to be
formed in the early 1990s. 

"At present, an effective system of information collection has formed in
Russia's regions," Yakovlev said. 

The Criminal Investigation Department also has a photo catalogue of antiques
that is permanently replenished and circulated to territorial police
divisions. 

Yakovlev said that the Interior Ministry closely cooperated with the
Interpol in returning stolen culture valuables. 

"In the recent years, 180 stolen icons have been returned to Russia as a
result of this interaction from Germany, 100 from the US and 50 from Italy.
Agreement has been reached with Italian colleagues on the return of more
than 700 other icons," he said. 

Paintings stolen from a Sochi art museum and from the Voronezh's House of
Officers have been found in Finland with assistance from the Interpol,
withdrawn from auctions and returned to Russia. 

About 50 thefts from Russian museum exhibition halls, archives and galleries
are registered every year, Yakovlev went on to say. 

"But it is impossible at present to estimate a real scale of loss of museum
property in store-rooms, as there has been no inspection since 1978." 

As for the investigation of the theft of 221 art objects from St.
Petersburg's Hermitage Museum, "27 museum exhibits have been found",
Yakovlev said. 

"The search for the rest can take a long time, considering that these crimes
had been committed almost during 17 years," he said. 

"The theft in Hermitage has shown that this problem warrants awareness, for
the museum stocks are comparable for our country to reserves of minerals in
economic terms, and it is impossible to evaluate them in spiritual and moral
terms." 

The Interior Ministry cooperates with federal and regional culture
institutions in securing safety of objects of art and antiques. 

"Active work is being carried out to fulfil the Russian president's order to
make a comprehensive inspection of culture valuables stored in museum funds,
Yakovlev said. 
 
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