Museum says ‘sorry’ over theft

The director of Russia’s State Hermitage Museum apologized for the theft of $5 million worth of jewelry and other precious items, as police recovered more items from the St. Petersburg museum, news agencies reported Monday. Russian news agencies, citing unnamed police sources in St. Petersburg, also reported that four more items had been turned over to authorities, bringing to 21 the number of stolen items returned. Russia’s most famous museum announced last month that 221 items, including jewelry, religious icons, silverware and richly enameled objects, had been stolen.

Meanwhile, Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky said at a meeting of the Russian Union of Museums that he hoped the intense scrutiny would help improve security procedures, according to RIA-Novosti. “I hope that we will be able to clearly tell ourselves and others what occurred,” the director said.

Four people, including a late curator in charge of the Russian art collection where the thefts occurred, her husband and her son have been detained on charges of involvement in the thefts.