Russia has added more than 900 works of art including paintings and collectibles to Interpol’s online database of stolen cultural property items, Russian Deputy Interior Minister Sergei Bulavin said on Thursday.
More than 250 works of art, among them paintings by Isaak Levitan and 23 ancient icons have returned back to Russia via the global policing body since 1990. Historical documents signed by Elizabeth of Russia, Catherine the Great, Nicholas I of Russia and other emperors returned back home in 2010, Bulavin added.
This year, two stolen paintings were returned to Slovenia from Russia.
In 2009, Interpol unveiled an online database of about 34,000 items known to have gone missing. Open to interested individuals as well as governments, museums, galleries and auction houses, the database features masterpieces by artists such as Caravaggio, Titian and Degas as well as a host of other, lesser known paintings, sculptures, pieces of furniture and jewellery.
