Trove of Stolen Valuables Returned to Russian Museums by Envoy

A trove of fine art, military documents, and architectural drawings that were allegedly stolen by an Israeli antiques dealer from Russian museums were returned to the government in a ceremony at U.S ambassador John Tefft’s residence in Moscow this week.
Included in the 30 recovered items were four documents signed by Empress Elizabeth, and Emperors Paul I, Alexander I, and Alexander II. The four items were allegedly stolen by Vladimir Feinberg, a Russian antique dealer and reputed gang leader living in Israel.
The items were tracked down by U.S homeland Security agents in 2011 after noticing them for sale at an auction house in Addison, Illinois, reported the Associated Press.
According to Russian authorities, Feinberg has allegedly stolen $24 million dollars worth of works of art and artifacts from the Hermitage Museum and the Russian National Archives in the past 30 years. However, Russian authorities have not been able to win Feinberg’s extradition.
In the ceremony, a document signed by Emperor Peter the Great, valued at over $12,000 dollars, a decree signed by Joseph Stalin, and some of Russian architect Yakov Chernikhov’s sketches were also returned. Since 2007, the United States has returned hundreds of stolen artifacts to the Russian Government. About 2,500 pages of documents from Moscow and St. Petersburg have been stolen since the late 20th century.
So far, only about 500 of these stolen items have been returned. The recovered items will be taken to a highly secured archival building in St. Petersburg, Russia, according to the AP.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.