HERITAGE – Finland has finally returned the €42 million insured shipment intercepted by customs last week, Finland’s foreign ministry said on Friday.
Once stopped, once left. The convoy of works of art from various Russian museums and seized by Finnish border guards in early April was returned to Russia, the Finnish foreign ministry said in a statement Friday. Finland’s decision was taken after consultation with the European Union and the addition of an exception clause to sanctions, reserved for goods that have been the subject of cultural cooperation, such as works in museums on loan abroad.
Read alsoTwo paintings from the Morozov collection remain in France
The Russian Minister of Culture, Olga Lyubimovawelcomed on Telegram de “clarification” delivered by Brussels. “The paintings are on Russian territory”his ministry confirmed on Saturday. The updated sanctions allowing for the issuance of licenses for the transfer of certain cultural property to Russia would come into effect on April 9, according to the statement from the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The art shipment was worth almost EUR 42 million on 1 . intercepteder and April 2 in Vaalimaa, on the border between Finland and Russia, on the road to Saint Petersburg. The Finnish border guards considered that the works in question could be affected by the sanctions on the export and transfer of luxury goods and had entrusted their supervision to the Directorate of Museums of Finland. Russia was outraged by a seizure on Wednesday “completely illegal”†
Read alsoIn Russia, the holy union behind Vladimir Putin
Works from the largest Russian museums
The returned convoy was carrying goods from the most prestigious Russian museums, including: the hermitagethe Pushkin Museum or even the Tretyakov Gallery† The various works of art – an unspecified list of paintings, sculptures and antiquities – were repatriated from Italy and Japan, where they were on display. Their return comes as part of a cultural clash between Russia and Ukraine’s allies, a theater since February 24. of the most important conflict in Europe since the Second World War†
The seizure of these works, even if they have been returned, will erode the art world’s confidence in the international loan system.
Thomas C. Danziger, Art Market Attorney.
“The seizure of these works, even if they have been returned, will erode the art world’s confidence in the international loan system.observed on Friday before the New York Times art market attorney Thomas C. Danziger. The slightest suspicion, however small, that a work of art is not returned to its owner by the receiving institution can be enough to nip many international exchanges in the bud.†
Read alsoHow Auchan Resists International Pressure to Leave Russia
In March, Russia took the decision to repatriate works loaned to several European countries, including Italy, in response to similar measures taken by several European countries. France, for its part, announced on Saturday that it will keep at least two paintings presented to the Louis Vuitton Foundation as part of the exhibition event of the Morozov collection† One seized painting belongs to the sanctioned Russian oligarch Petr Aven, while the second is part of the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Dnipropetrovsk, eastern Ukraine.
The short-lived seizure of the Russian works took place in a context of heightened tensions between Finland and Russiaagainst a background of rapprochement between the Scandinavian state and NATO after the invasion of Ukraine. The interception of the convoy by the Finnish border guards also illustrates the erosion of cultural trust between the different parties, while several artists have already paid the price for their support. To Russia True to Ukraine†
