Who’s stealing Pushkin? Inside a multimillion-euro library crime spree

PARIS, June 13  — Six Georgians have been sentenced to up to seven years in jail in France over the theft of rare editions of Russian literary classics, including works by 19th-century literary figure Alexander Pushkin, from prestigious French libraries.

The trial is the latest in a series of cases linked to similar heists in recent years across European libraries, believed to involve an organised network with possible links to Russia.

The stolen items included rare Russian literary works valued at millions of euros, including texts by Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol and Mikhail Lermontov.

The six defendants – five men and one woman – were all found guilty overnight from Friday to Saturday of criminal conspiracy with intent to commit an offence, with some also convicted of stealing cultural assets on public display.

Two of the defendants were sentenced in absentia after already being arrested in their native Georgia, which does not extradite its citizens.

Another pair – identified as Mikheil Z. and Beqa T. – have already been convicted and jailed in other countries for similar offences and were temporarily handed over to French authorities.

Mikheil Z., 50, received the heaviest sentence of seven years in prison, along with a lifetime ban from French territory after release and deportation. He had previously been sentenced in Lithuania to three years and four months for organised theft of 19th-century publications worth €606,000 (RM2.844 million).

Beqa T., 49, received a four-year sentence, in addition to a previous term of three years and six months imposed in Estonia.

The prosecutor said the defendants’ actions were “massive, organised, planned and executed with meticulousness and cynicism”.

Russian ring behind library raids?

The thefts – which also targeted libraries in Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic – led to the creation of a joint investigation team involving Europol and Eurojust, resulting in several arrests in 2024.

In France, the crimes occurred in 2023 at the Diderot Library of the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, as well as the National Library of France and the University Library of Languages and Civilisations in Paris.

Investigators said the suspects consulted rare works, photographed and measured them, then later returned with near-perfect replicas to replace the originals.

Between March and October 2023, Mikheil Z. visited the National Library of France 40 times, requesting access to manuscripts mainly by Pushkin, claiming he was researching democracy in 19th-century Russian literature.

In November, the library discovered nine works had been swapped with copies, with losses estimated at €650,000 (RM3.05 million).

In June 2024, a Russian auction house listed a second edition of Pushkin’s The Prisoner of the Caucasus, corresponding to a copy stolen from the National Library of France.

The auction house said it had documents showing the book was acquired from its owner in Russia in 2014–2015.

Investigators believe the thefts may be linked to efforts to repatriate Russian cultural heritage amid strained relations between Moscow and Europe following the invasion of Ukraine.

None of the stolen works has been recovered, although the National Library of France said it “has not given up hope of recovering these works”. — AFP