MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. The detention of Russian museum exhibits on the Finnish-Russian border is due to the need for additional bureaucratic procedures, Russia’s special presidential representative for international cultural cooperation, Mikhail Shvydkoy, told TASS on Monday.
"The detention of trucks on the border with Finland and Russia is due to extra bureaucratic procedures following the introduction of a new package of sanctions," Shvydkoy said.
He explained that the sanctions concerned the purchase and sale of antiquities.
"This has nothing to do with the items that had been on museum display," he said. "The Russian works of art returning from different countries upon completion of exhibition projects will be brought home upon completion of a number of formalities."
Shvydkoy said the Russian embassy in Helsinki was working hard to secure an early settlement.
Earlier, Russian media said that the Finnish Customs at the Vaalimaa checkpoint detained three vans carrying exhibits belonging to the Hermitage, the Tretyakov Gallery and other museums. The Finnish Customs confirmed the detention of several Russia-bound cargoes due to the EU’s newly introduced sanctions without specifying what the cargoes were.