In France, three Georgian citizens, including two women, were detained on suspicion of a series of thefts of rare editions of Alexander Pushkin’s works from libraries, RBC reports with reference to the newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
The first theft occurred in July 2022: then librarians at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Lyon discovered that copies had been returned to them instead of originals.
Then, on the night of October 10, 2023, two thieves used a crowbar to open the door of the library of the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (Inalco) and take out a dozen manuscripts.
Before the robbery, two men came to the library and asked to show them the originals of “Boris Godunov” and “Eugene Onegin” – this is how investigators identified the suspects.
Three suspects, aged 24, 26 and 44, were detained on November 20. According to investigators, they may be involved in a network that specialized in the theft of original works by Pushkin throughout Europe.
The motives for the actions of the detainees have not yet been established. Investigators are considering two versions: theft for sale on the black market for collectors or actions as part of a program to return cultural heritage “scattered across Europe” to Russia, the publication notes.
Source: Rosbalt
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