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by Dave Gradijan

Hermitage Loses $5M Worth of Art in Theft

News
Jul 31, 20061 min
CSO and CISOData and Information Security

The Hermitage Museum in Russia announced on Monday that it was victimized by the theft of more than 220 works of art and jewelry worth about $5 million, the Associated Press reports on WashingtonPost.com.

The suspicious nature of the crime was made all the more so by the fact that a curator at the museum died there suddenly as the investigation started, according to the AP.

A statement released to the AP also hinted, albeit without specifics, that Hermitage employees may have played a role in the theft.

“There are many strange aspects of this affair, but unfortunately, there is no doubt that it did not happen without the participation of museum staff,” the statement said.

The Hermitage, which was started in 1764 by Catherine the Great, added that it is trying to upgrade its system of monitoring visitors and workers, admitting that the facility is not fully secured, according to the AP.

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