URGENTLY. Finnish customs said it had confiscated items from the Hermitage and Tretyakov Gallery heading from the European Union to Russia, and an official investigation had been launched.
Helsinki regards this as a crime and an attempt to violate sanctions. A special conference on this matter will be held on April 6. It seems that these masterpieces, like many others sent by kind Russian museums to private galleries in Europe, without any guarantees, for long periods, may not be seen by Russia.
According to Finnish Customs, three shipments subject to EU sanctions were stopped on April 2-4, 2022. Customs launched a preliminary investigation, suspecting a serious violation of regulatory requirements, considered a criminal offense. Customs will hold a press conference on Wednesday, April 6, 2022.
Finnish customs recalled that the European Union has imposed extensive sanctions against Russia. Customs oversees sanctions on goods as an enforcement agency. Due to sanctions monitoring, customs detained three shipments of goods suspected of being sanctioned. Customs confiscated the goods.
Among other things, objects from the Hermitage and other Russian museums, which had been exhibited at the Grand Tour exhibition in Milan since the fall of 2021, were detained at the border. As the Cheka-OGPU found out, this exhibition was not a state exhibition, but was organized by the banking group Intesa Sanpaolo.
VChK-OGPU
This is a photo of the transportation from Russia and placement in Italy of exhibits for the Grand Tour exhibition, which were detained at Finnish customs. The exhibition was not a state exhibition, but was organized by the Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo. According to the organizers…
“ВЧК ОГПУ”