In France, Georgian citizens were convicted in the "Operation Pushkin" case. They are suspected of stealing books for Russia
In Paris, six Georgians - five men and one woman - were sentenced to prison terms ranging from eighteen months probation to seven years for stealing works by several Russian writers from European libraries. This was reported by Le Monde.
It is alleged that the thefts of expensive works by Russian writers occurred in European libraries in 2022-2023. In France, the crimes were committed in the Diderot Library of the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, the National Library of France (BnF), and the University Library of Languages and Civilizations (BULAC) in Paris. Six first-edition works by Pushkin, as well as two editions by Mikhail Lermontov and one edition by Yevgeny Baratynsky were stolen, with the damage estimated at 770,000 euros.
The prosecutor's office called the incident a "real theft of treasures" - a carefully prepared, cynical and organized operation. According to the investigation, the criminals ordered rare editions, photographed them, measured them, studied the bindings and paper, and then returned to replace the originals with skillfully made copies.
The case was named "Operation Pushkin". Similar disappearances of Russian books were recorded in Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, the Baltic countries, and a number of other European states. According to one version, the commissioners of the thefts could have been structures associated with the Russian authorities.