Hermitage Paintings Found in Moldova, President Says

ST. PETERSBURG—The president of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin, announced Friday that two paintings from the Hermitage Museum in Russia had been found in his country and would be returned, reports the New York Times via the Associated Press. However, Voronin did not name the works, and the press office at the Hermitage said they didn't know what paintings he was referring to.

Voronin, who had been in Russia for talks with President Dmitri A. Medvedev, stated that the paintings had been recovered earlier that week following a lengthy police investigation, details of which will be announced tomorrow. Citing an unidentified law enforcement source in Moldova, Russian news service Itar-Tass reported that the paintings were believed to be by the 19th-century landscape artist Vasily Polenov and the Soviet-era social realist Boris Ioganson. In July 2006, the Hermitage reported 221 items had been stolen, but never mentioned any paintings.