Hermitage was offended by the Ministry of Internal Affairs

The director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky complained to the Minister of the Interior Vladimir Kolokoltsev about the actions of the security forces during searches in the museum. According to Piotrovsky, these actions caused damage to the business reputation of the Hermitage.

The seizure of documents in the office of the contractor of the Hermitage was carried out on September 12 as part of the theft of 50 million rubles, which were allocated for the restoration of the eastern wing of the General Staff.

The Hermitage website published a letter from Piotrovsky Kolokoltsev, dated September 19, in which the director of the museum calls the extremely strange situation, "when the normal procedure for withdrawing documents was announced for journalists as something extraordinary."

“The published statements mentioned a number of claims to a series of institutions, fogically talked about the issues existing to some people and some firms, and it was emphasized one name-the state Hermitage,” the letter says.

“Checks should be carried out so that they do not damage the business reputation of the Hermitage and the Ministry of the Interior. - said Piotrovsky on the air of the radio station "Echo of St. Petersburg." -Because in the morning a press release of the Ministry of the Interior is made, where no one is named except the state Hermitage. "Unknown persons may be abducted, so the seizure of documents." This is not called the seizure of documents! The seizure of documents is a normal procedure, without a closed person and automation. ”

“This, in my opinion, causes the same damage to the Ministry of the Interior as ours. The whole press on the same day at first wrote simply that in the Hermitage recesses, then in the Hermitage of the theft, etc. In this case, the only way to respond to the press is to publish my letter to the Minister of the Interior, ”said the director of the Hermitage.