Experts: The pictures found in Moldova do not belong to the Hermitage

Two paintings that Moldova was going to return to the Hermitage are not the works of Russian artists Vasily Polenov and Boris Johanson, RIA Novosti said by phone on Monday Tudor Zbyrnya, director of the Moldova National Art Museum, who conducted the examination. “It was not confirmed that these paintings belonged to the Hermitage,” added Zbyrnya.

Moldova President Viktor Voronin during a meeting with the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev in early June in St. Petersburg said that Moldova will return to Russia the paintings discovered on its territory , which was lost from the Hermitage in 2006. Later, information appeared that these paintings - presumably, the work of Polenov and Johanson - law enforcement officers of the republic were seized while trying to sell them in Chisinau.

After the appearance of this information, the Hermitage extended the official statement, which said that in 2006 the theft of paintings from the museum was not recorded. In addition, the museum does not have any information about finding any Hermitage things in Moldova, it was noted in the message. The Rossvyazhkuzcran guard and the Central Internal Affairs Directorate in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region also said that they did not know anything about the theft of these paintings.