The works of art that had been stopped by Finland at the border have returned to the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg. This was reported by the official Russian agency Ria Novosti. Previously, the Finnish customs authorities, citing the possible violation of the sanctioning regime against Russia as a reason, confiscated three vehicles on the Russian-Finnish border bound for the Russian Federation with works returning from Italy and Japan and belonging to the state museum of ‘Hermitage, the State Tretyakov Gallery and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.
The background
On 2 and 3 April, as reported by the Russian Foreign Ministry, “Finnish Customs seized three vehicles headed for Russia at the border, alleging a probable violation of the European sanctions against Russia”. The vehicles carried works of art from the most important museums in the country, from the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, from the Tretyakov Gallery and from the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow and which had been exhibited in Italy (Milan and Udine) and in Japan. “The situation”, thundered Russian diplomacy spokesperson Maria Zakharova, “can be defined as legal anarchy: we are talking about the seizure, in violation of international law, of Russian-owned works that were on temporary display abroad, under official guarantees of the Countries where exhibitions were organized in collaboration with our museums ». The EU sanctions against Moscow, launched for the invasion of Ukraine, also include a ban on the transport of works of art and authorize their confiscation.