Work on returning museum items from foreign exhibitions to Russia completed - Lyubimova

MOSCOW. July 25 (Interfax) - The work on returning to Russia of the museum items, which were on loan to foreign exhibitions, is complete, Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova said.

"The work on returning the museum items from foreign exhibitions onto Russian territory was completed over the summer; the returned exhibits now can be viewed by the Russian public at the exhibitions [entitled] 'Brother Ivan. The collection of the Mikhail and Ivan Morozov brothers' at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, and 'The nirth of modern art. Sergei Shchukin's choice' at the State Hermitage," Lyubimova said at a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the government on Monday.

Both exhibitions have been a big success, she said.

Earlier, Special Presidential Representative for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoi also told Interfax that all of the exhibits from national museums had now returned from the unfriendly countries, with only the works from private collections still abroad, whose return was now being decided.

Earlier, the Russian Culture Ministry said that since the start of the special military operation, some 1,500 exhibits had been returned to Russia from exhibitions in Belarus, Belgium, Britain, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Spain, Korea, United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, Oman, Serbia, France, Czech Republic and Japan.