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By Steven Lee Myers The New York Times Published: August 6, 2006 found at iht.com 

MOSCOW An investigation into the theft of 221 pieces of art from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg - evidently an inside job that took place over six years - took another twist over the weekend with news reports that two suspects had been arrested and subsequently confessed.

The authorities in Moscow and St. Petersburg declined to discuss the investigation and said it was still under way.

But the Interfax news agency cited an unidentified official close to the investigation Saturday as saying the case had been effectively solved.

It said the fate of about 70 of the works, including where they had been sold, had been established, although it was not clear whether any of the items had since been found.

Interfax, as well as state television channels and other news agencies, said the two suspects, who were not identified, had stolen the works with the help of a curator who had been responsible for the storeroom where the majority of the items, valued in total at $5 million, were kept.

According to the Hermitage's initial statements disclosing the thefts, the curator died, evidently late last year, prompting an audit of the museum's collection that uncovered the scheme.

A spokeswoman for the Hermitage, Larisa Korubeynikova, said in a telephone interview that the museum was aware of the arrests but had no confirmation from officials involved in the investigation, which the country's General Prosecutor's Office announced it was taking over Friday.

The heist has caused a sensation here, prompting laments over the security of one of the world's premier museums and a culture of corruption that, apparently, extended to the sanctity of a renowned cultural institution.

The museum's director, Mikhail Piotrovsky, has called the thefts "a stab in the back" and promised greater scrutiny of his workers.

The curator has not been officially named.

The arrests, if confirmed, would represent a swift resolution to the case, which was disclosed July 31. It remains to be seen, though, whether all of the artworks will be recovered and returned.

The Hermitage posted a detailed list of the missing items on its Web site, www.hermitagemuseum.org , and appealed for help in finding them.

That appeal appeared to have had results.

An antiquities dealer in Moscow on Friday turned in a 19th-century gold and silver chalice that, according to the official Russian Information Agency, he had purchased in 2004, unaware of its illicit provenance.

On the day before, an anonymous caller had directed the authorities in St. Petersburg to a garbage bin, where they found an icon that appeared to be another of the stolen works.

Korubeynikova said it was premature to say definitely that the two works discovered were among those stolen.

She also cautioned against a rush to judgment against the museum's workers.

"Museum people are honest people," she said.

"Otherwise our museums would be empty by now."

MOSCOW An investigation into the theft of 221 pieces of art from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg - evidently an inside job that took place over six years - took another twist over the weekend with news reports that two suspects had been arrested and subsequently confessed.

The authorities in Moscow and St. Petersburg declined to discuss the investigation and said it was still under way.

But the Interfax news agency cited an unidentified official close to the investigation Saturday as saying the case had been effectively solved.

It said the fate of about 70 of the works, including where they had been sold, had been established, although it was not clear whether any of the items had since been found.

Interfax, as well as state television channels and other news agencies, said the two suspects, who were not identified, had stolen the works with the help of a curator who had been responsible for the storeroom where the majority of the items, valued in total at $5 million, were kept.

According to the Hermitage's initial statements disclosing the thefts, the curator died, evidently late last year, prompting an audit of the museum's collection that uncovered the scheme.

A spokeswoman for the Hermitage, Larisa Korubeynikova, said in a telephone interview that the museum was aware of the arrests but had no confirmation from officials involved in the investigation, which the country's General Prosecutor's Office announced it was taking over Friday.

The heist has caused a sensation here, prompting laments over the security of one of the world's premier museums and a culture of corruption that, apparently, extended to the sanctity of a renowned cultural institution.

The museum's director, Mikhail Piotrovsky, has called the thefts "a stab in the back" and promised greater scrutiny of his workers.

The curator has not been officially named.

The arrests, if confirmed, would represent a swift resolution to the case, which was disclosed July 31. It remains to be seen, though, whether all of the artworks will be recovered and returned.

The Hermitage posted a detailed list of the missing items on its Web site, www.hermitagemuseum.org , and appealed for help in finding them.

That appeal appeared to have had results.

An antiquities dealer in Moscow on Friday turned in a 19th-century gold and silver chalice that, according to the official Russian Information Agency, he had purchased in 2004, unaware of its illicit provenance.

On the day before, an anonymous caller had directed the authorities in St. Petersburg to a garbage bin, where they found an icon that appeared to be another of the stolen works.

Korubeynikova said it was premature to say definitely that the two works discovered were among those stolen.

She also cautioned against a rush to judgment against the museum's workers.

"Museum people are honest people," she said.

"Otherwise our museums would be empty by now."

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