Russia’s Interior Ministry jointly with the Federal Security Service have detained in hot pursuit a suspect in the theft of Arkhip Kuindzhi’s "Ai Petri. Crimea" painting from the State Tretyakov Gallery, Russian Interior Ministry Spokesperson Irina Volk told TASS, Trend reports.
"A suspect in the theft of Kuindzhi’s painting has been detained in a search operation conducted by staff members of the Main Directorate for Criminal Investigation of the Russian Interior Ministry jointly with the Russian Federal Security Service," Volk said.
Police apprehended the suspect in the Zarechye village in the Moscow Region. The 31-year-old man told police that he had hidden the painting on the territory of a facility under construction in the Odintsovsky Region. Police later found the painting there.
The man was held by police for storing drugs in December 2018. He is a suspect in a drug-related criminal case and was released under the pledge not to leave the country. The criminal investigation is ongoing.
The painting by famous Russian landscape painter Arkhip Kuinzhi was stolen from Moscow’s Tretyakov Gllery on Sunday evening. The masterpiece had been brought from St. Petersburg’s Russian Museum to be displayed at the exhibition of Kuindzhi’s works.
The police spokesperson earlier told TASS that security officers who were in charge of video monitoring saw unidentified persons remove the painting from the wall and flee the scene. According to a source familiar with the situation, the price of the painting is to the tune of $1mln.
The exhibition at the State Tretyakov Gallery will be reopened at 3 pm on Monday, the press service said.