Thefts of rare Pushkin editions in France: perpetrators face up to 7 years in jail
French magistrates say these flights may reflect a drive to repatriate Russian cultural heritage, amid rising tensions between Moscow and the West since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
What does the Louvre jewellery heist have in common with the theft of heritage copies of works by 19th-century Russian authors from several prestigious libraries in Paris and Lyon? In both cases, the loot is still missing. But in the case of the books, the courts have only just delivered their verdict.
Six Georgians have been sentenced in Paris to terms ranging from an 18-month suspended sentence to seven years in prison for the theft of classics of Russian literature. Among the stolen items were works by Alexander Pushkin, including a first edition of “Boris Godunov” (1825), as well as texts by Mikhail Lermontov and Nikolai Gogol – a “genuine theft of treasure”, according to the prosecutor, who in his submissions described a “massive, organised operation, planned and carried out with meticulous care and cynicism”.
This case is part of a wave of thefts targeting libraries across Europe since the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a wave attributed to an organised network potentially linked to Moscow.
The six defendants – five men and one woman – were all found guilty in the night from Friday to Saturday of criminal conspiracy with intent to commit an offence, with some also convicted of stealing cultural property on public display.
According to the investigation, the thieves visited libraries to consult rare volumes, which they photographed and measured before returning to replace them with near-undetectable facsimiles. At the National Library of France (BnF) alone, the loss is put at 770,000 euros.
Two of them were tried in absentia, having already been arrested in Georgia, their country of origin, which does not extradite its nationals.
A pair identified as Mikheil Z. and Beqa T. had already been convicted and jailed in the Baltic states for similar offences and were temporarily handed over to France for trial.
Mikheil Z., 50, received the heaviest sentence: seven years in prison, along with a permanent ban from French territory once he has served his sentence and been deported. He had already been sentenced last year in Lithuania to three years and four months in prison for the organised theft of 19th-century publications valued at more than 600,000 euros.
Beqa T., 49, was sentenced to four years in prison, in addition to a previous sentence of three years and six months handed down in Estonia.
A drive to repatriate Russian heritage?
These thefts, which have also hit Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, led to the creation of a joint investigation team under the auspices of Europol and Eurojust, resulting in several arrests in 2024.
In June 2024, the Russian auction house Litfond, which specialises in the sale of rare antiquarian books, included in its catalogue a second edition of Alexander Pushkin’s poem “The Prisoner of the Caucasus”, matching a copy stolen from the National Library of France (BnF).
The auction house told the French authorities it had documents proving the book was acquired from its owner in Russia between 2014 and 2015.
In the view of French magistrates, these thefts may form part of a broader effort to repatriate Russian cultural heritage, against the backdrop of heightened tensions between Moscow and Europe since the invasion of Ukraine.
None of the stolen works has been recovered, but the BnF’s lawyer, Alexandre de Konn, quoted by AFP, said the institution “has not given up hope” of finding them.
