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Russia regains more than 2,500 cultural treasures via Interpol in recent years

Valery Kalachev noted that the stolen valuables are very diverse

MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/. The Interpol database lists over 54,000 stolen historical and cultural treasures, and over 2,500 such items have been returned to Russia in recent years, Valery Kalachev, head of Interpol’s Russian National Central Bureau (NCB) under the Russian Interior Ministry, told TASS.

"There are more than 54,000 historical and cultural treasures in the [Interpol] database at the moment," he said. "Overall, we have managed to recover more than 2,500 items in recent years."

Kalachev noted that the stolen valuables are very diverse. They include various works of art, religious items, historical documents, stamps, jewelry, household items and many others. Interpol’s Russian NCB works in close cooperation with the Interior Ministry’s Main Criminal Investigation Department, the Federal Customs Service, the Border Guard Service, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Ministry of Culture.

The head of Russia’s Interpol NCB recalled that the Interpol General Secretariat has developed and launched a mobile application, ID-ART, which contains information on more than 52,000 stolen cultural objects from more than 134 countries. "This online resource provides access to the Interpol database, where anyone can check whether an object is registered as stolen, as well as report information about stolen works of art to the Interpol General Secretariat," he explained. The Russian Ministry of Culture also publishes a register of missing, lost and stolen cultural property on its information portal.

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