A gang from Georgia is stealing Putin’s favorite books throughout Europe – now also in Geneva – Because of the abuse scandal: Coop dumps monastery beer from the shelf

A gang keeps Europe in suspense. They steal valuable Russian books from libraries across Europe. Her working method is cinematic. Tracks lead to Georgia.

What happened?

An anthology by Russian writer Alexander Pushkin has been stolen from the Geneva library. Explosive: It is a first edition from the 19th century, in Russian. It is not known exactly when the theft took place.

The prosecutor has one Criminal proceedings opened. However, she does not want to comment further because the investigation is still ongoing. A spokesperson for the city of Geneva said the library, known until 2006 as the Public University Library, had its own Security measures have increased. The Tribune de Genève reports this.

Alexander Pushkin is considered the founder of modern Russian literature. With his poems, dramas and stories, the nobleman paved the way for the use of Russian colloquialism – at that time the Russian upper class spoke French.

Who is behind it?

There must be one behind the theft Gang from Georgia supposed. Since the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022, similar thefts have increased in several European countries: first editions of Russian literature from the 19th century are repeatedly stolen from libraries. In addition to works by Pushkin, there are also works by Nikolai Gogol and Mikhail Lermontov.

The gang appears to be very organized and deliberate. They visit libraries and pretend to be scientists studying Russian literature. For their ‘research’ they demand access to the works in the original Russian language – which cannot be borrowed. Then they take extensive pictures of them from all sides and say they want to come back later.

Before her second visit make copies of the books. Then when they have to return the originals to the library, they return the copies instead and keep the originals. In some cases it took months for the deception to come to light.

In other cases, the thieves saved themselves the trouble: one accomplice distracted the librarian while the other made off with the books.

What’s the motive?

The gang from Georgia sells the stolen books at exorbitant prices to collectors in Russia. French investigators discovered that amounts worth 30,000, 50,000 or even 100,000 francs were paid – cases are also known from France. This explains the high prices Russian nationalismwhich has resurfaced due to the war of aggression against Ukraine.

Russian writers of the 19th century often wrote about the conquests of the Tsarist Empire – Vladimir Putin repeatedly raved about this. In 2016, he said he always had a Lermontov book on his desk.

The French investigators suspect that it also concerns the thefts to bring this Russian cultural heritage back to Russia with its symbolic power, as the French Parisien writes. That a Georgian gang should be responsible for this seems surprising, especially since the political climate between Georgia and Russia is tense and the former Soviet republic is oriented towards the West. Russia also supports the two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which are part of Georgia under international law.