Russia

Russian Minister on looted Baldin collection: “This collection should be returned and we will return it”

A legal loophole may enable the restitution to Germany of a collection taken to the USSR by a Soviet army officer in 1945

Recent developments in restitution claims in Russia prove that some art theft is 'legitimate'; when it is committed by a government that is recognised by nations around the world

Unlike the heirs of Nazi victims, the descendants of collectors whose art was appropriated by the Bolsheviks are unlikely to have it returned

Claim for slice of the action at LACMA as new show uses paintings subject to restitution claims

A French plaintiff says he deserves a percentage of exhibition ticket sales at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art because the works on display were taken from his grandfather after the Russian Revolution

Museumsarchive

Costs of Afghan war may curtail promised State funding to struggling Hermitage Museum

Published accounts show that in 2000 the Hermitage raised 65% of its budget

Art marketarchive

Son of El Lissitzky files for return of another war loot Kandinsky

The dispute revolves around the work 'Improvisation No.10'

Looted artarchive

Further cultural valuables to be returned to Germany

A medieval stained-glass window to return to Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, while Germany will pay for the rebuilding of a 14th-century church in the Pskov region

Malevich heirs gunning for Amsterdam’s Stedelijk

Museum bought works after artist abandoned them in Berlin

Museumsarchive

Russian cultural institutions suffer collateral damage from the war in the Balkans

The director of the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, outlines the possible implications for his museum of the NATO campaign

Environmental protection in Russia, aqua alta on the Neva

Unlike Venice, St Petersburg is building a flood barrier, but needs more money

The Duma overrides Yeltsin on law nationalising booty taken from Germany to the Soviet Union after World War II

Russian parliament voted last month to override President Yeltsin’s veto, putting him in a precarious political position

Twenty-five Hermitage “treasures” gained as war loot still unclaimed

Watercolours and drawings seized by the Red Army in a Berlin bunker in 1945 have been on show in the Hermitage earlier this year for the first time

Russiaarchive

Russian Parliament nationalises art taken from Germany

But negotiations continue between Chancellor Kohl and President Yeltsin

The Gerstenberg Goyas resurface at The Hermitage

Drawings believed lost go on display in “Masterpieces of Western European Drawing"

Newsarchive

Ukraine returns war booty to Germany

This is in marked contrast to Russia’s tough line against any restitution of works of art taken from Nazi Germany

“This is Soviet-style imperialism”: Interview with Director-General of Berlin Museums, Wolf-Dieter Dube

Dube reacts angrily to Russian delays over restitution and responds to the opposition of Irina Antonova, veteran director of the Pushkin Museum

Russians get nowhere on WWII restitution

More roadblocks further slow the process

Interview with Mikhail Shvydkoi on funding and restitution: “Sausage meat is not acceptable. Only culture in exchange for culture is valid”

Russia’s Deputy Culture Minister speaks about the need to establish a new cultural identity in the new Russia

The point of no return - Europe climbs on the restitution bandwagon

But the process has stalled as far as large-scale restitution between Russia and Germany is concerned

Featuresarchive

Why has the Germano-Russian war loot question still not been resolved?

Even after treaties have been signed, legal wrangles between Germany and Russia persist

Looted artarchive

What future for the looted Krebs Collection?

Rumours of a Sotheby’s valuation have encouraged talk of auction

Pushkin Museum director on restitution: “We don’t owe anybody anything”

The doyenne of the Russian museum profession, Irina Antonova, opposes returning “trophy” works of art

Looted artarchive

Where is the real Van Gogh’s “White House at Night”?

Fears are growing that the version in the St Petersburg is a replica

Looted artarchive

Stolichny bank buys war booty

Russian bank revealed as major investor in the art market

Malévich heirs stake claim on MoMA works

The New York museum insists it has sound title