Russian museums seek ways to guarantee return of exhibitions from abroad - State Hermitage Museum director

ST. PETERSBURG. June 13 (Interfax) - Russian museums may return to an exhibit exchange system to guarantee the return of items from other countries, Director of the State Hermitage Museum and head of the Union of Russian Museums Mikhail Piotrovsky told Interfax on Thursday.

"We have recently thought that exchanges are a stupid thing to do. No, now there will probably be an exchange [...]. As for guarantees, we are working on this now. The Russian Culture Ministry and museums have previously established a guarantee of return, which was accepted by a significant number of countries and not accepted by the United States," Piotrovsky said.

He noted that there had been no cultural exchange with the U.S. for about 15 years, as the country declined to give such guarantees. The same guarantees became effective in 2022 with Europe, when paintings from Paris could be brought back to Russia.

"It is because there was a system of guarantees based on honesty, on conscience and many other things that worked. Now it does not work. We are now dealing with other ways that can provide a guarantee of the return of items," Piotrovsky said.