The State Hermitage will introduce a moratorium on exhibitions in the US and Europe immediately after the return of all of its exhibits from exhibitions abroad. This is stated on the website of the museum.

“The Hermitage is introducing a one-year moratorium on exhibitions in Europe and the USA. Recall that in the 1990s, the museum introduced a moratorium on exhibitions in Russia for security reasons and because of high financial risks.”

The head of the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, said that at that time it was dangerous to carry things: “There are bandits all around, there is no money, real insurance too.”

Representatives of the museum specified that now all exhibits that participated in temporary exhibitions in Europe have returned to the Hermitage. From March to June this year, the Hermitage took part in eight foreign exhibitions - in Amsterdam, Hamburg, Paris, Brussels, London, Milan and Rome.

In May, the presidential representative for international cultural cooperation, Mikhail Shvydkoy, announced that works of art in the Russian museum fund would not be sent to foreign exhibitions, including to friendly and neutral countries. It will be possible to return to participation in foreign exhibitions “when the situation is calmer,” he noted in an interview with Interfax.

Earlier, The New York Times reported that museums in London and Paris cannot return exhibits brought to their exhibitions to Russia. In particular, the Louis Vuitton Foundation, located in the capital of France, faced such a problem. It houses the Morozov collection, consisting of paintings by Picasso, Gauguin, Renoir and Van Gogh, as well as some of Russia's most famous artists. According to Bloomberg, permission to transport the collection, which has not previously been seen outside of Russia, was personally signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.